“Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua Marine

About one year ago I was offered the opportunity to teach an advanced photography workshop throughout the country of Australia. The idea was that I would fly over, visit 4 cities from coast to coast and in each stop teach a class of 10-15 photographers for two days. To say I was nervous about the idea was an understatement. I was worried about trying to teach enough over 2 days, worried no one would buy a ticket, worried there would be those challenging me or my photography. I guess you could say I was a bit of a worrywart. But I took the challenge! Over the next 12 months I pushed myself daily to learn new things, study as much as I could, practice and shoot as often as possible. I wanted to be ready for the challenge – and when January 7th rolled around I felt ready to step on the plane and share a message with all my new friends down under.

At times as photographers we get comfortable doing things a certain way – for instance we say we are “natural light” photographers because we don’t want to accept the challenge to learn how to use lighting equipment. I was that person. I have been entirely self taught from the beginning. I never had the opportunity to go to a fancy college and learn studio lighting… so I became a “natural light” photographer. In fact I still prefer shooting with beautiful natural light as it affords many more opportunities for spontaneous moments and a wonderful lifestyle feel during the shoot. It allows me to work faster and shoot more without having to adjust lights or move gear. But when I realized in my career that I was shooting “natural light” because I didn’t know any other way, I challenged myself to learn off camera flash. I challenged myself to understand light patterns, light modifiers, light setups. The more I studied and shot the more comfortable I felt and then challenged myself to teach others. I knew that by teaching others I would learn even more and retain it better.

“Accept challenges, so you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” – George S. Patton

Now I do believe that as photographers it is great to have a cohesive style – one that people can look at and say… “Oh yes, that is Trevor Dayley’s work,” for example. So I am not saying that we need to go out and experiment with as much as we can and create all kinds of images for our portfolios that don’t match the style we want to offer our clients. However, I do believe that just as a golfer might have a favorite golf club in the bag, he knows that there are many other clubs in there to help him get the job done. By learning different techniques, as photographers we are putting more clubs in our bag, more paint on our palette, more ingredients to cook up something masterfully. If we are not challenging ourselves we are not growing – we are stale.

“As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

This next week I will be experiencing one of the biggest challenges of my young career as I head off to Las Vegas to participate in the annual photographers conference. While there I will be teaching a workshop jointly with an amazingly talented photographer out of New York (jenerations.com), I will be speaking at a sold out class as part of a conference, I will be part of a panel answering questions during a discussion, hosting two different events and sitting down to be interviewed for a future episode of the [FRAMED] show that is to inspire photographers around the world. This week has been one of the most nerve racking weeks of my life as I think about all the opportunities I have to really mess things up. That takes us back to the beginning of this post – all week I have been wondering what I have gotten myself into – then it hits me… by accepting these challenges and getting through them I will be able to look back on the week and realize it was probably the single biggest growth opportunity I will have had in my professional career. It’s through challenges that we grow.

I will end with this. Growing up I loved quotes- in fact I would print them out and paste them all over my bedroom wall. One of my favorites that I memorized and hung over my pillow is one that I think is quite fitting for this post.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again… who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” –  Theodore Roosevelt

Because every post is better with some photos I will add some images from Bek and Tobias’ shoot while in the Lab One Studio in Perth, Australia just minutes before running to the airport to catch my flight back home. I have never really done a shoot that was entirely “studio work shot on a white background” like this before – but I seized the opportunity and challenged myself to go for it. It was a bit nerve racking as I had a number of people watching – even filming the shoot. But I relaxed myself, positioned some lights, cranked up the music and went for it! P.S. Every challenge is better done with loud music.

The day went absolutely perfect. DJ Sarah Birkett put down a wonderful party, the flowers by Wild Child Floral Designs were classy and beautiful, the cupcake cake delicious, everything to perfection! Big shoutout to Chris Frailey and Shannon Karczewski for their assistance as additional shooters. Thank you for visiting the blog. Feel free to leave a comment below, it’s always appreciated.

The night Alex proposed they were at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale. They mentioned that they wished they had a camera with them or a friend to snap photos of the evening. I then replied, “Let’s recreate the magic. Show me where and how it happened.” Watching the two recreate the moment was so cute. I could see the excitement on Noelle’s face. These two are seriously so incredible. Afterwards they boarded a gondola for a ride – just as they did the night of the proposal.

Fortunately I happened to be scheduled to visit Sedona at just the right time as the leaves were vibrant gold and drifting down from the branches. Liz and Chad decided to make the drive up to join me there in order to shoot their engagement session – and honestly I don’t think we could have picked a better day. The weather, albeit a little chilly, was perfect – and mother nature put on one of the most beautiful shows of the Fall season. Combine the beautiful colors with an amazing couple and you got one killer engagement session all wrapped up as we caught the sun setting while out on a dirt road. Hope you enjoy some of my favorites from the session. Remember to leave a comment below or over on Facebook. Thanks!

Their beautiful wedding took place at The Scottsdale Resort in their beautiful ballroom. The setting was gorgeous and a ton of family and friends came to support the two including many of our military men and women in uniform. What a wonderful site to see. The party afterwards was a site to see. The guests were having an absolute blast and in the middle of the room stood their incredibly gorgeous wedding cake. A perfect couple, a perfect wedding day. I was so blessed to be part of such a special event in the midst of so many honorable men and women serving our country. I hope you enjoy the peek into their wedding day through some of my favorite images from the beautiful day.

So rather than getting married in the beautiful garden of The Castle at Ashley Manor they ended up pulling the ceremony inside – and had the guests sit at their assigned dinner tables. Now there’s the old saying, when life gives you lemons – make lemonade. Well that is exactly what happened! Aimee and Dan turned the circumstance into something beautiful. I broke out the studio lights in my truck to light up the giant room and in the end everything was absolutely beautiful. The party was insanely fun and during breaks in the weather we were even able to be outside grabbing a few shots. The wind made her veil flow in the wind – the dust storms created a perfect filter over the sun to reduce shadows, the rain made for beautiful reflections in the asphalt. Now that I think about it… the wind, dust and rain might just have been a blessing in disguise. Beautiful day and I was grateful to be able to capture it for such an amazing couple. Thank you to Petey Wheatstraw for coming along as my second shooter that day and helping out. I hope you enjoy the photos… and please feel free to leave comments at the end. In fact if you have a story of turning lemons into lemonade I would love to hear it.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!