For those of you that signed up for the Feb workshop, check your email box. If it’s not there, check your spam and if it’s still not there, email us a Bloomworkshops@gmail.com. =)

Thanks,
B and K!

until the Feb. 2010 BLOOM workshop begins! Are you guys ready….we sure are! Just to let you know what will be happening…about mid morning on the 8th, you’ll be getting the best email ever! OK…just kidding but we know you’ll be happy to see it. It will have the link to the forum so you can get on and get settled in. So go ahead and clear Monday, Feb.8th of all appointments so you can sit your tush at the computer ALL DAY LONG! LOL!!

We look forwarding to meeting everyone next Monday!
Bren and Kristy

Hey everyone! So we were finally able to work out the kinks to google reader for the blog! WOOT-WOOT! If you are a regular reader of the BLOOM blog and want to add it to your google reader, just click on the RSS icon in the NEWS box (just below the logo banner and right above the TWITTER feed). If you already have us in your reader, we have a new address so if you could delete the old one and do the same, that would be great. Or you can just copy and paste this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BloomWorkshopBlog and just go from there.

HINT-HINT! It would be a really REALLY good idea to add us because soon we are going to have a MASSIVE ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY on the blog with prizes in the $100.00’s!!

And don’t forget to pick up some WORDSMITH guides! In the checkout, put BLOOM to recieve 15% off!

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!
Bren and Kristy

Joyce over at WORDSMITH is giving our blog readers 15% of any of her guides. Make sure you guys head over there and browse her wonderful stuff.

I have to say hands down her WHAT TO WRITE and HOW TO SELL have been two of the top investments I have made since I started my business. I can’t begin to tell you how many hours those guides have saved me in front of the computer. I’ve said those so many times before and I’ll say it again, Joyce is a brilliant writer and her guides prove that. Go to any photography forum and you’ll see nothing but praises and kudos about WORDSMITH.

For those of you that get the age old question “what should we wear for our session?” Check out her WHAT TO WEAR and her new WHAT TO WEAR (for Senoirs). And let’s not forget her SENIOR PRICING MENU.

All the guides are totally customizable to make them your own. Don’t delay…get this great deal while it lasts!!

xoxo,
Bren

Kristy and I have gotten an insanely amount of emails about the Feb. 2010 workshop from former BLOOM alumni about how they would love to do the workshop again, hang out with Gina, refresh themselves and so on and so on. So Kristy and I put our heads together and came up with a brilliant plan (at least we think it is) for our former students to get in on some workshop action. Here’s our plan:

We are going to allow former BLOOM students to join this workshop or any future workshop as a “silent” member. So what is a silent member you ask? What it is is you would be able to access everything on the board, (depending what option you choose) and that includes our guest speaker thread. That means actions, new material, videos, screenshots, regular assignments, bonus assignments (which are usually new to each workshop) etc, it’s all fair game but you would not be an “active” participant on the board. That means, no posting, leaving comments, asking questions, correspondence with Kristy and I with any questions you might have, etc. Basically you would be a lurker! LOL!!

The benefit to this is a couple of things. First is obviously the guest speaker. Since we have new ones every workshop, it’s cool to read what all they share, how different they shoot and what tips they offer. Second is even though we have an outline we use for the workshop, each one is catered to the students in them. So there are bound to be questions that haven’t been asked in previous workshops that will come up in this one and/or future ones.

Now, if this sounds fantastic to you and you are saying hook me up, you have a couple options. For a fee of $50.00 you can join one workshop as a “silent” member for the BEGINNINGS portion (which includes the guest speaker). Or you can be a “silent” member for one ENTIRE workshop for a fee of $85.00 BUT you can only do this if you have previously taken the CREATE portion of a workshop. If you want to sign up, just shoot us an email at bloomworkshops@gmail.com, let us know you want to sign up and what option you want and will send you an invoice. =)

WOO-HOO…we are excited about this! T-24 days and counting until it begins!! We can’t wait!! =)
HUGS,
Bren and Kristy

Oh…and stay tuned for our one year anniversary special! Can you believe it? ONE YEAR since we started our first workshop! We have a lot in store for our blog readers!! It’ll be a BLOOM-LA-PALOOZA! (hee-hee)

And we are beginning to work with someone in creating the BLOOM forum! A fun place where all our BLOOM students can get together, chat, share advice, give cc, share photos, share goodies, etc!! =) A great place for our BLOOM family!

And just because it’s so hard to post without a photo or two….a couple of Bren’s little man being a ham!

shot with natural light coming in on his left, 50mm, 1/160, 2.2, ISO 3200 (another yucky, cloudy, dark day)

Hey all….just wanted to let you guys know in case you jump on the blog and it looks all wonky, we are attempting to add some stuff (notice the word attempting so cross your fingers we don’t jack up the entire thing) to make it all nice and jazzy! LOL!!

Thanks so much,
Bren and Kristy

Hey everyone! We’ve had a lot of requests to go ahead and send out the invoices for the final payment to the workshop so starting today, if you have a remaining balance, you should be getting your invoice. They should be completely sent out by tomorrow so if you did not recieve one, please let us know. =)

And a little taste of one of the things we discuss in the workshop…Brenda’s fake studio set-up using natural light! A little before and after to wet your taste buds! LOL!!

shot in manual, 50mm, 1/250, 2.0, ISO 2000 front window lighting (taken on a really really cloudy day)

Well 2009 has come and gone and as we look back, we are so humbled and honored that our workshop has been such a huge sucess. When we decided to go ahead and do a workshop back in Feb. 2009, we thought maybe there was a need for maybe one or two of them. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would be starting our 6th one, coming up on our 1 year anniversary and still going strong. So we can’t thank are our blog readers, our awesome sponsers, our totally talened guest speakers and especially our “Bloomies” (as they have nicknamed themselves) enough for all their love and support! It’s so ironic because the workshop is to benefit our “bloomies” but in all honestly it has given us much more with awesome friendships, seeing everyone grow as photographers and start their business with a new sense of wealth and confidence.

So….without getting to sappy, I bet you are wondering what’s in store for 2010? Well….for starters, we are going to do a lot more giveaways from our wonderful sponsers. An editing online workshop is still in the works as well as a forum! And of course we will continue with the Bloom workshops. We are definitely going to be busy! LOL!!

We look forward to what 2010 brings Bloom and we wish all you a wonderful and prosperous new year!
xoxo,
Bren and Kristy

Thanks everyone for your interest in the BLOOM workshop. We are now full for the February 2010 one. Please keep checking the blog for any information about up-coming ones. =)

For those you that signed up for the February one, we are soooo looking forward to “meeting” you and working along side you! If you didn’t pay for the workshop in full, your next invoice will be sent out mid-January. We will do a post the day they are sent out as a reminder (in case it goes to spam).

That’s about it for now! Again, keep peeking at the blog for updates. We hope everyone had a wonderful and joyous Christmas and will have a fantastic New Year!! Here in Texas, we actually had a white Christmas! It was amazing! And it looks like we are going to get some more tomorrow!! WOOT! Our snow is nothing compared to you guys up north though…we get 3 inches and they cancel regular scheduled shows and replace it with the news about the snow all DAY LONG! LOL!!

And it’s hard to post without photos! I haven’t picked up my camera much but I did do a class project for Miss
G’s class so they could make calendars for their parents to give as a gift for Christmas. This is her’s for the month of February….see that little scrunched up nose….she does that all the time now, it’s her trademark look! LOL!!

That’s one of the many words that comes to mind when Kristy and I (and many many others) see Gina’s work…BREATHTAKING! She is an AMAZING artist and visionary when it comes to photography. She routinely captures such beautiful images that they literally make your heart skip a beat, make you take a deep breath and time stands still for a few minutes while you look at her work. So of course we are THRILLED to have her as our guest speaker for a week for the February 2010 workshop!

As you can see she is a master at taking unbelievably gorgeous images as well as post-processing. I think one of many reasons why I’m so drawn to her work is how her final product looks like a masterpiece painting. It’s truely remarkable. She inspires so many through her work (Kristy and I have our hands raised high in the air screaming US, US) but what we also adore about her is she is so geniune and sweet, so humble and down-to-earth. And just to prove how humble she is, when we asked her about doing the guest speaker spot, she told us “she would be honored to do so!” HMMMM….Gina, I think you have that backwards, we are so honored for you to join us!

So make sure you check out her WEBSITE, BLOG and FLICKR for even more stunning works of art! But beware, you won’t be able to get away from the computer if you do, so our advice to you, grab a nice BIG cup of hot coffee or hot chocolate, lock yourself in your office or bedroom so you won’t be distrubed because we promise you, the next thing you know, two hours will have pasted and you still won’t done staring at her lovely photos. =)

Thanks again Gina, we can’t wait! Is it February yet? LOL!!