Learn to See Yourself with Compassion

April 23, 2014

10 Things You’ll Learn in the Beloved Camera Class!

Add text-15 The Beloved Camera Class starts on Monday, April 28th and I’m so excited to be bringing a class to life that I feel really will help those of us right-brain folks who might have found the left-brain side of photography a bit overwhelming!

Knowing the technical side of photography will help strengthen our relationship to our camera, but it doesn’t mean we need to find it stressful, or confusing! In this 5 week class we dig into learning about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, how light relates to our camera and so much more (as you’ll see below) and I hope that it will help you fall even more in love with sharing your story through your camera!

Now, this class is designed to explore the manual functions of a camera, the type of options that are often on a DSLR or some point and shoot cameras. You quite likely have a camera that would work for this class and this is a chance for you to discover the wonders of the gear you have! If you are wanting to take the class and are wondering if the gear you have will be okay for class…please don’t hesitate to click the contact form & connect with me!

We’ll begin gathering for class on the weekend, so if you’d like to grab your spot in class…here’s where you can learn more and do just that!

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Come join us in the Beloved Camera Class!

April 21, 2014

Beloved Camera Class!

I’m mighty excited to share that I have a brand new class starting April 28th and running through May (it starts in 1 week)!

Its actually quite a bit different than most of my other classes, but of course with the common thread of seeing ourselves with kindness through our cameras.

Its a technical class!

Yes, you read that right! The Be Your Own Beloved classes are consciously more accessible in terms of the kind of technical info you need to know to take it. You can take that class with anything from an iPhone to a DSLR…its about YOU, not just the gear you are using.

But as you explore seeing yourself with kindness through your camera, learning more about our cameras can be a way to gain even more confidence in front of and behind the camera.

I know for me, that left brain side of photography felt intimidating. As though I would need to know all sorts of info about the technical side in order to take a photo. But when I finally gave photography a try, what I realized was that what was more important was that right brain energy of going out there and experimenting, playing and a sense of wonder!

So, I’ve been wanting to create a class that explores seeing ourselves with kindness through our cameras but that also empowers us to know more about the technical side in a way that is inspiring, accessible and exciting. That provides you with the left-brain information in a right-brain friendly way!

And it is finally here.

In The Beloved Camera class we’ll be exploring an element of how your camera works each week (yes, aperture…shutter speed and more) and empowering ourselves to use settings we might have avoided in the past! Alongside that, I’ll be inviting you to explore how that information will help add more magic, more movement and help us see us with even more kindness through our cameras.

Come join me for the Beloved Camera Class!

April 17, 2014

When Your Inner Critic Shows up…You’re doing it Right.

I think often with taking self-portraits

When our inner critic shows up to try to stop us, we think we’re doing it wrong.

That this doesn’t happen to other people, only us.

So we put our camera down and quit.

Thinking that its easier for everyone else.

That these photos are proof that we aren’t photogenic, that we aren’t enough.

But here’s the thing. From my perspective, when your inner critic shows up…you’re doing it right. Not wrong.

You’re doing it right because you are at the precipice of a new story.

You might be only a few photos away from that one that helps you see yourself in a new light.

Your inner critic is a sign that you are stepping out of your comfort zone.

That there is the possibility of a new story.

And your inner critic is scared shitless of change.

So it bounds you, tells you yet again that story that knows will press your buttons.

Repeats the words that unhinge you and make you give up. Cause it thinks it knows you that well.

It shouts even louder the closer you get to change, to being outside of its comfort zone.

But what it doesn’t see is that it is blind to what is beyond its boundaries.

That when we say no to these old stories and open the door to a new one…

We get to define how we talk to ourselves not our inner critic.

But it can’t see that far and so it holds us in tight.

So in case next time you pick up your camera, you might take a self-portrait and feel like you are doing it wrong

If you see the old story of how you feel about yourself in photos.

You aren’t wrong.

You are just in front of the door of the new story, locked shut by your inner critic.

Press the shutter, take another photo.

Unlock it.

April 14, 2014

The Right Brain Business Summit Recap!

Oh my. Its Monday morning and I wanted to share that my heart is feeling filled right up from the Right Brain Business Summit. Last Friday I was interviewed by the awesome Jennifer Lee about things like being visible in our business, authenticity and of course about taking self-portraits!

Jennifer has added on an extra day of the replay of my interview…so if you haven’t seen it, if you join the summit (its free) you’ll be able to view the replay until 8pm tonight! Or for those folks who upgrade in the summit, you can watch all the videos at your leisure!

Over the weekend, Jennifer and I held a contest for folks who were watching the interview….if they shared a self-portrait on Instagram, they could win a spot in the June session of Be Your Own Beloved (registration is open if you’d like to join us)!

So my weekend was filled with happily checking Instagram and each time I did there was another amazing and brave Summit participant sharing their selfie. It was really outside of the comfort zone for many folks, so it was such an honour that each and every one of them shared.

I tell ya, I’m LOVING this summit…and what was even better was that today while I was watching it, a package from Amazon arrived with Jennifer’s gorgeous new book Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way: Sustainable Success for the Creative Entrepreneur arrived in my mailbox! Perfect timing, right!

I’m going to share more about the book in a future post but can’t contain my excitement today about this book. It was such an honour to be asked to be a featured entrepreneur in the book and not only that…but this book itself is going to be a game-changer for so many of us creative entrepreneurs. Jennifer has such an accessible and inspiring way of sharing what can often be some of the parts of our businesses that stress us out. Just so proud of you Jennifer Lee & seriously excited to have this book as my go-to resource in my business.

Also, the #RBBIZ Summit is still on for the rest of this week! I’m getting so much out of each session and I especially encourage you not to miss the rockin’ Alexandra Franzen on Thursday!

April 10, 2014

Where the Magic Happens

Yesterday I headed to the community garden nearby with my tripod, both cameras and all my lenses. I was on a mission. I’m working like wild on this brand new class Your Beloved Camera which explores the technical side of taking self-portraits as we explore seeing ourselves with kindness through it (I can’t wait to share this class with you)!

When I arrived at the garden, my inner critic was ready to pounce on me. As I’ve been on this self-love through self-portraiture journey for a while now, its become much easier to push past my inner critic and take self-portraits (even on their fiercest days) but as I was shooting video for the class, it was like I opened up a whole new door for them to come through.

And they did.

The garden was busy too. People walking by as I was shooting. With photos, it can be a bit more subtle, but with my tripod perched high on a picnic table right in the middle of the garden, I felt super exposed and nervous.

So I used my go-to trick with when I’m hitting a wall when taking self-portraits. Getting silly. I shook it out with a silly dance. I took some ridiculous clips that will be fun outtakes and just got back in my own body, my own skin.

Did I get all the clips I hoped to? Nope. But I started.

And sometimes thats the hardest part.

After shooting video I decided to shoot some more self-portraits, with camera in hand (as in planning this course I realized I had very few of me shooting photos)!

Oh my…it might have been the most magical half hour of my life. The light, the cherry blossoms, the sudden space from people walking by. I felt so in the creative magic and came home feeling so energized.

I wanted to share with you as this kind of magical creative adventure is available to us all. And our inner critic or ‘gremlins’ are likely to be awaiting us if we try to access it. But thats where the magic happens….when we push past the NO that they tell us and choose YES for ourselves.