As we walk through this crazy journey called life, I often feel like time passes in spurts, marked by particular moments in time that MAKE me stop and remember. Sometimes it’s because I force myself to stop, sometimes it’s because of events and happenings along the way. And sometimes, just sometimes, it’s a person. Or people. Two people, actually, in this particular situation. I first came upon Justin & Mary in early 2011 and from the first blog post, I was hooked. They have this effortless, timeless grace about their photographs that make you want to BE a part of that story. And Mary has this way of writing that rocks you to your core, that sweeps away all pretense and clutter and gets at the heart of the issue. Simply put, I adore them.

Back in June, I had the opportunity to attend one of their Walk Through A Wedding workshops and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done for my business! Walk Through A Wedding is a two day workshop where Justin & Mary literally walk you through how they shoot a wedding, from the bride getting ready to the reception lighting set-up. I was two weeks into my newfound freedom as a full-time photographer and even though this was my second year shooting weddings of my own (vs. second shooting), I was still struggling to feel confident when it came to carpe diem-ing the actual wedding day. Having the chance to see J&M break down how they do what they do and WHY they do it was an incredible experience for me. And then on the second day of the workshop, we went through the business aspect of things, giving us attendees a rounded out experience. I walked away with my head full to the brim of ideas, totally overwhelmed but ready to take on the world! Even just looking back through my images this morning from the first day have me excited all over again!

And guess what? Justin & Mary are hosting a three-day ShowIt Live event called The Big Next December 17th-19th! It’s going to be jam-packed with a ton of valuable information (plus a super special guest, Katelyn James!), and all y’all have to do is tune in! Because J&M are hosting the event in their sweet New Haven, CT home, they opened up five spots for an “in-studio audience” spots and I SCREAMED when I got the email telling me I’d won one!! So I’ll be there during the event, and each in-studio attendee will get a chance to chat one-on-one with Justin & Mary about where their business headed and how we can take things to new heights. I cannot WAIT to be inspired and completely overwhelmed all over again- I think this spells good things for 2013 :).

Happy, happy Friday, friends!

Oh, PS- this is probably way narcissistic, but our anniversary session in NYC is up on J&M’s blog! I’m fairly certain that 30% of their page views from this past week have been from me.