Friday

The Go{4}Pro Gals get their picture taken...

I've talked a lot about making the most of every opportunity! I truly believe that this one key principal is the tell tale sign to success. You have to kick fear to the curb and allow yourself to think outside the box and always give permission to do something that's, well... DIFFERENT! I know, so much easier said then done, but how bad do you want it? I want it bad enough to put myself (full vulnerabilities and all out there) to try, fail, cry and then try it better the next time. To demonstrate my point I have a little WPPI story that in a bizarre kind of way demonstrates exactly what I'm talking about.

Noelle and I were on the trade show floor checking out vendors and slipping in to listen to platform speakers. One such platform speaker we stopped to listen to was Jerry Ghionis. Jerry's work is insanely fabulous!!! If you have never seen his work get ready for visual overload! I'm so excited to showcase Jerry for an upcoming Inspire Me Friday!! (Oops) Back to my story. So we stopped in to listen to his presentation (which rocked by the way)....

Can you find us? We are in the far left bottom corner. 


After the presentation everyone was coming up and introducing themselves and asking to take a picture with Jerry. Well, Noelle and I decided that we didn't want a picture WITH Jerry we wanted a picture BY Jerry. We wanted to say, 'Oh you like that picture? Thanks. JERRY GHIONIS snapped that for us!" *huge smile!!* So we walked up, quickly introduced ourselves and said basically, "oh no, we don't want a picture with you" (as he got into position for one more pic) "we want one by you!"

Here's us chatting it up with Jerry. Look how tall I look! I'm actually really short. I had someone stop me at WPPI to say hi and tell me she thought I would be taller. Which made me laugh but I look tall in this shot or Noelle just looks really mini!

Jerry's presentation was all about taking extremely ordinary and even downright blah environments and creating STUNNING works of art! It was fantastic. It always amazes me when you get to see pull backs and see the "real" surroundings. It's never the glamour you anticipated when you saw the shot! Well the very cool thing about this topic was that you can't just give a platform presentation on taking ordinary and making it extraordinary and then follow up with a plain snapshot while everyone is watching. (And Noelle and I knew that *hee hee*). As Jerry started to look around at what we could use, Noelle suggested we lay down on the floor... So we did. 

Remember when I mentioned how "animated" (totally finger quoting here!) I am in photos - well this is nothing!



So there you have it... We saw an opportunity to stand out, to do something different and we took it. It meant we had to get over our nerves and ask. It also meant everyone was going to be watching us, never something that puts me at ease! The grand part being that they all had cameras! Thank you so much to Christine and Corinna for snapping the behind the scenes and sending them my way! I know this is a silly small thing but it speaks of a much larger idea. Keep pushing forward! We have to take chances, step outside of what is comfortable and let failure come, even welcome it! Because growth always follows failure as long as you're willing to learn from it and try again. 





I was trying to find a quote from Meet the Robinson's (such a great movie!) but instead I found this awesome flow chart from here. So here you go... Yeah to failure! Yeah to different! And eventually YEAH TO SUCCESS!!


Want to know more about Noelle and I? Ask questions is the comments and we will do a special post so that you can get to know each of us better! BTW - in case you have not noticed, I comment to your comments all the time. So make sure you check back if you think of it! 

16 comments:

  1. You are awesome! You are awesome! This post speaks volumes about the type of person you are and the type of person I want to be... And yes I know who Jerry is, he is oobber fabulous.. Im so excited to hear him talk next year on tour with Sam Puc.

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  2. guilty. sometimes i lack a filter-probably shouldn't have said that upon our first meeting ;) but you're still super cute and i love what you do!

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  3. Oh you smart-witty-pants you two are!! That was brilliant to ask him to take your picture. Good idea!

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  4. Wow I am totally in love with your blog!! This is great! I have a list of goals sitting before me and then found this blog!! WOW it's totally going to help me. THANK YOU!! Your information in wonderful thank you so much for sharing!! I so wanted to go to WPPI and wasn't able to, so to read about your experience is greatly appriecated!

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  5. Oh, what a great great GREAT idea!! I love that idea, having someone take a picture instead of taking a picture of them. You guys are so smart!

    How did you two meet?
    What inspires you the most?
    If you could have anyone take your picture, who would it be?

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  6. hooot! i love the flow chart. im printing it and putting it up in my bathroom! love the pic! noelle you look gorgeous! i feel like in hawaii no one really wore much makeup so ow ow to noelle!

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  7. Jeannie! I know it's going to be so awesome! I'm so excited for next years tour!!

    Liz! Are you kidding!!? Don't filter it at all! I loved that you said that!! I thought it was hilarious, I just couldn't figure out how I appeared taller on a blog? Still not sure on that one? But every time I tell family they all laugh AT ME because well as you now know... I'm a shorty! ;)

    Erin... Your bathroom huh? Always a good place for a flow chart I guess!

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  8. I love it! I noticed that he doesn't have an external flash. What did he use for lighting? You both look sooo gorgeous! Awesome post.

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  9. I forgot my questions: 1. What kind of camera do you both shoot? (brand and model) 2. What is your dream shot that you haven't yet captured? 3. What is the best way to have confidence in your work and business? (I'm struggling with that lately!) Thanks!

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  10. Hey Clarissa! Thank you so much! Jerry, first name bases here, hahaha, used my camera, which made everything even more cool! The lighting was great for the trade show but I knew it was going to cast huge shadows underneath my deep set eyes. Another reason I suggested we laid on the ground. :) So no external flash just the lights over head. Well answer your great questions soon!

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  11. Great post! Just found your blog recently and really enjoy it. I enjoy photography so much and try to get better each day, your blog has helped. Thank You

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  12. love it! great idea! good to put a face to a name too. i'm in love with your blog!! thank you for sharing!

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  13. I'm a new follower. I just want to say I love your blog and your personalities (including railing on "Anonymous" who said you had bad grammer) I wish I had found you before WPPI. I Would've love to have met up with you! :)

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  14. Love the pic of you guys! Leah I totally agree with pushing yourself and agree that it definitely takes courage. Good for you guys! You always amaze me with your confidence Leah! :)

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  15. Awesome to see the writers of the blog I'm so obsessed with!

    1. What big purchases are you wanting next?
    2. What is each of your strengths/weakness?
    3. Will you be teaching workshops????

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  16. Ha! Way to step outside of the every day!

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