Posted by + Debra

Whew! So I just got home from attending the “A Practical Wedding Book Tour” in Atlanta, hosted by Young Blood Gallery and “A Wedding Day Hooray“.  I am feeling energized! It’s always a pleasure to meet funny, open minded, outspoken, and honest people.  Meg of APW is all that and a bag of chips, probably a coke too.  She had everybody in stitches with funny stories, and sage advice for the female entrepenuers. I loved how she wore a dress that could have been for an ice skater, or dancer…I half expected her to pirouette across the floor, or just as easily strap on some skates and field questions from the audience.  In attendance where were loads of awesome couples, and a fistful of Alumni Interns, and current interns, and the awesome +Raven, and Baby Rox with his wonderful mom and cool pop.  It made me all the more grateful for the wonderful people here at the LeahAndMark.com family.

I really appreciated Meg’s candor, as I have also been appreciating her blog and the many people who contribute to it.  I gotta be honest, I just love anybody who can call bull$___ out in public, and say what they mean, and mean what they say, and all that jazz.  How awesome to have people telling you that your wedding doesn’t have to equal a downpayment on a house? I feel if you got and want to spend it, then good for you.  But, if your like me and “don’t got it” and don’t want to spend it, then you should be able to have your wedding day be just as special, and just as amazing.  this is of course coming from the same girl who was planning on getting married in jeans, at least up until a few hours ago (Thanks Lucy for the inspirational quip).   A very cool group of people this evening, and I can’t wait to read the book, I have a feeling it will be just as funny, honest, and candid as Meg was in person.

Ok, onward to my blog post.  This is the last installment of my trip to South Africa.  This time focused on the Cape.  Now the region of the Cape is very large, there are hundreds of small towns, and one very large city.  It is a diverse and beautiful part of the country with mountains stretching on for days, oceans going on for miles and miles, and epic sunsets every night with great people, awesome food, and amazing wine.  There is no way I could sum up the Cape in just a few blog posts, the end message is really that a country and place as amazing as South Africa can take an entire lifetime to experience.  I could spend a month in the Southern Cape and still feel like I barely scratched the surface.

It.Is.An.Amazing.Place.

Hout Bay: Home of Seal Island.  We rode a small boat out to Seal Island, and got to eat some seriously awesome amazing fish and chips.  OMG YUMMY! Really tasty fresh fish.  It was quite difficult to photograph the seals as the water was very choppy.  My trusty little Lumix did well to get at least this 1 clear shot.  Be advised, if you get seasick, you may want to skip this one.  The waves combined with the intense stench of the seals will turn even the steel lined stomach of the hardiest person.  I was a bit green, and I notoriously can handle just about anything! I absolutely loved getting to see the baby seal with the mom, and the man who cared for them.  We all cheered and such.

Boulders Beach: Ok, ok, I have a mild obsession with arctic animals, and the only thing better than seeing flipping penguins could have been seeing polar bears.  But there were no polar bears, so the penguins definitely took the cake for my Cape Town experience.  And the only thing better than seeing penguins, was getting to swim with them.  Sit with them.  Sunbathe with them.  YES! I know right, how cool is that!! Boulders beach is a small private beach with limited entry and gives you a chance to sit, sunbathe, and SWIM with penguins.  Best morning on the beach ever.  There is a small fee, and the beach fills up quickly.  If you happen to go, go to the outskirts, it involves some climbing but gives you a very secluded morning with the penguins (eeeep! so cool!).  Cape Point: The national park that is home of the continental tip of Africa, and surrounding bays and Capes.  It is a full afternoon, and I recommend a snack, a sweater, and some sneakers.  You will do ALOT of walking.  It is a national wildlife refuge.  The salty air is voluptuous, and hinders the growth of most plants.  Only very hardy and native plants thrive in the park.  These trees are quintessential African trees, strong, tall, and proud.  There are a few of them scattered through the park.  For the most part the horizon is flat, and both sides are flanked by the ocean, making it all the more obvious that you are approaching the tip of the continent.  It was very exciting!It felt like the sky and ocean were one and the same here.  In case you were wondering, the very tip of continental Africa is VERY VERY windy. We had a good laugh trying to get this self portrait of us 3.  My brother would have lost his eyes to my hair if not for his glasses.  We all scribbled on the rocks the initials of the multiple people we love, temporary markings of the time we were in that special place.  This is the very tippy tip of Africa! The lighthouse is newish from 1918. These ostriches were on the side of the road, and looked a mite mean.  I didn’t dare roll down the window, I swear I thought he would peck my eyes out. Ostriches are magnificent creatures, and their eggs are made into costly curios quite regularly.

Sentinel Hill:  offers wonderful sunset views of the Cape and surrounding bays, including Table Mountain.  This evening was special in and of itself because as soon as the sun was down, you were greeted by the rising moon.  Another example of the wild, untamable beauty to be found in the Cape. Robben Island: Island Prison 11km from Cape Town for Political Prisoners, including Nelson Mandela. Living conditions were unbearable, and many prisoners lost their eye sight working in the direct sunlight in the lime quarry.  It was bright, hot, and an incredible sparse place.  The amazing thing to remember and walk away with after visiting Robben Island is the heroic stories of how the men held captive were able to boost eachothers spirits and work on becoming educated.  They shared letters, and books, songs, and love. It is a testament to the intrinsic wealth of mankind when we turn ourselves inward and love one another despite the misfortune or fortune they might be in the midst of.  Table Mountain: The wind and weather of Table Mountain is world renowned, almost as well known as the spectacular views.  We tried 2 times to go up the mountain only to be turned away because of the fierce winds howling down.  Wind BTW looks just like clouds.  Who knew? We did finally make it up the mountain the day I flew out of South Africa, it was the perfect last morning in Sunny South Africa.  The views were amazing, all around.  Cape Town and all surrounding areas are beyond breath taking.  Truly one of the most amazing places in the world.  

- All photos taken with the Panasonic DMC ZS8 and the iPhone 3.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Meg of the A Practical Wedding blog is coming to Atlanta, tonight, actually, {OMGBBQ!} as part of her book tour, and I personally, am psyched.  Not only is Meg super-crazy-awesome, but her advice is AMAZING, and I can’t wait to read her book.    I’m totally buying one.  And getting it signed!

So, about books.  Wait for it, here comes the tie-in.

Whenever I get tired of Pandora playing in the background while I edit {and because I know I typically can’t trust myself to use a movie as “background noise”}, I switch to audiobooks. Specifically, lately, self-help or self-improvement books.

Which makes me sound like Bridget Jones, I know, but I’m kind of okay with that.

I still actually read books, too, but audiobooks are great for when I’m editing, because I move into this zen-like state where I’m completely aware of what’s going on in the book and what’s going on with the images, too.

Anyway. I’ve read and listened to a lot of really awesome books, lately, and since not all of you are my friends on GoodReads.com {be my friend!}, I’d really love to share them with you on here.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

I know, I know, these books were SO IN for a while. But, after finding a copy at Goodwill and deciding that $1.50 was worth a little of my time? I loved it. It’s actually a fantastic book, and combined with a couple of other books I was reading at the time, really made a positive impact on my life. He does start to be a little repetitive after a while, but sometimes we need things said to us multiple times in slightly different ways in order to really have them sink in. It’s all about taking time for yourself, not worrying, changing your life in positive ways, etc. Great.

The Nonrunner’s Marathon Guide for Women by Dawn Dais

Goodwill has a huge impact on the books I read {apparently} because this was another find. I picked this up at the same time as Run Your Butt Off, the guide from Runner’s World. They were actually right next to each other on the shelf, so I guess the previous owner either gave up, or is now a running PRO and no longer needs these guides. I hope the latter. ANYWAY, I DIGRESS. This book is a fantastic one for people who want to start running. It’s also a great book for people who DON’T want to start running. The author is really funny, she’s realistic, honest, and even though the book includes bits of her personal training experiences, she hates running all the way through, which is – believe it or not – really reassuring. It’s because of these two books that I now PROUDLY call myself a runner. {Even if my run is the speed of most peoples’ jogging. Not the point.}

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

I had heard about this book from my brother-in-law, and finally found the audiobook version. After hearing everything he had to say, I’m convinced. And I now feel like I can be a better partner, a better friend, a better sibling, and a better daughter. No, really. I know it sound corny, but seriously. This book is all about the ways that different people express their love, and the way that they, in turn, UNDERSTAND love. Once you understand the different “love languages” that people speak, you can figure out how to speak to them in those languages. For example, I’m fairly confident that my language is Words of Affirmation, meaning that I verbalize my love, and best appreciate and understand and feel love when other people do the same. Fascinating!

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

I’m fairly convinced that this guy’s voice was Rob Lowe’s inspiration for his character on Parks & Recreation. And if that isn’t awesome enough, it’s got great content, too. I’m a fairly bad procrastinator. Have been for pretty much my entire life. Nothing I can’t get a handle on, but this book had a lot of really good ideas for getting and staying organized and focused. New ideas, too. I’ve already implemented several of his suggestions, and I’m working on adding more in, too. For example, I’m a little notorious for attempting multi-tasking whenever I can. Like, really. I’m a pro at driving while singing along to music while putting on make-up while performing brain surgery. Well, not the last part. But the rest, yes. And I always attempt to multi-task at the computer, as well, but it’s actually more poisonous than anything. It’s much more productive to go at tasks one at a time, get them finished, then move on to the next one. And these suggestions apply to any kind of goals that you want to do, whether it’s losing weight, saving money, keeping yourself on track with your work, cleaning the house, etc.  It was especially helpful for me, since I work from home and I’m my own boss.

And the other things I’ve been loving: The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evonovich, the Song of Ice & Fire series by George R. R. Martin, the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

Read all of these. RIGHT NOW. GO.

{Images and text by +jo}

Normally I my posts go up on Monday mornings but we have Season [SeVen] flooding the gates with their first posts. Check ‘em out!

This is the beginning of a big project I’m doing. It’s funny how life will throw things out there for you to catch. Mark’s good at doing that as well. One day he simply sent out a tweet: “I need a muralist. Anyone?” The irony? I was driving over there to have my headshots updated by Mark. I simply responded “Me painter.”

Soon I was standing in Leah and Mark’s place meeting their dula, Rebecca. Her company is called Magnolia Pregnancy Resources and her studio is in Dunwoody. She has a room where her clients have their birth classes, but it is rather bland with four walls of Robin’s Egg blue. She wanted something to make the space come alive.

That phrasing can be very scary… something, anything, an open canvas, a blank slate, tabula rasa… I didn’t really know where to begin. All I really had was Rebecca’s business card and the knowledge that Magnolia is her daughter’s middle name. So I sketched out something and talked to Rebecca over a few emails.

Without ever seeing the space this is what I had:

Then I had an opportunity to view the space and take in a wonderful critique from Rebecca. She sent me references and allowed me to see a beautiful tattoo. 

When I was able to see the space everything seemed to make more sense. The walls are a wonderful sky color and will be a good base to determine a cohesive color pallet.

I took a panoramic shot on my little iPhone and scurried home. With the help of my trusty Cintiq I was able to translate everything I had learned about Rebecca and her company and created this secondary sketch:

This is going to be Epic.

Holy.

So, like I said at the start of this post: this is the beginning.  There will be weekly updates on this project on top of my normal “Jo’s ramblings” posts. But, if once a week isn’t enough – follow me to see what I’m doing each day I go in to work on the mural.
Twitter: @JoaArtist
Instagram: @littlestargirl

~*~

After two weeks of Intern Applications, and then a crazy 36 hours for the 2nd round Applications – we finally arrived with our list of 8 interns… which turned into 7 interns – which is completely appropriate since this is the Seventh Season of our Internship.

We also moved into a new studio space at the Atlanta Goat Farm – a mid-Victorian industrial site on 12 Acres with 12 turn of the century brick structures. What we lose as far as indoor studio space (our last one had roughly 10,000,000 square feet) we gain in… ridiculously amazing outdoor shooting areas (the Walking Dead and a few other productions film there every now and then.) We’ve actually photographed at the Goat Farm several times in the past:

[Blood Wedding] [Clockwork Carnival] [Back Alley Food Photos] [Low Country Boil] [Lighting 102]

Some are brand new applicants, some applied four times, and some took +Jo out for drinks to be here. Whatever it takes.

Oh yeah. This is Season [SeVen]

They’re all standing in the ‘set’ designed by our new stylist – LoriGami. Um. What you see up above with the 7 Interns is what it looks like when the lights are all turned ON. What you see below is what it looks like when we do our jobs and make the lights look like something worth seeing.

LoriGami’s going to be working with us throughout the season, designing and styling a few more shoots. She’s a professional stylist that works on you know, serious photoshoots – so we’re ridiculously fortunate to have her on our team. (We’ll do a proper intro post later this week.)

(Just a note about this light setup. LoriGami created the shadow of the pirate ship to show up on the back wall – and originally our lights were overpowering it. So we used a softbox, and feathered the light just enough to ‘light’ Lindsay (the model) and control the spill and not washout the pirate ship shadow. If you refer to the photo up above with the Interns – you can see that we didn’t have much ‘room’ to work with – only about a foot between Lindsay and the back wall. So the light had to be sharply cut and controlled. I think it worked out.)

And now…

Introducing Season [SeVen] (click here to view all of their blogs)

Posted by +Debra

 I am not gonna lie, I was a bit worried when we broke down, and kept picturing newspaper articles on how 3 people went missing, I pictured all sorts of horrible things happening…I mean it’s not like theres a tow truck and a mcdonalds down the road…but I quickly pushed those morbid thoughts away and tried to help my brother figure out how to get us moving again  It was a sparesly populated region, and it was so hot.  Luckily for us, we had tons of water, a leather belt, and some brave ingenuity.  We tied a makeshift hose, filled the water and rollde a few more miles down the highway in search of help.  We spotted a sign for a bed and breakfast, and heaved a massive sigh of relief when a cozy white farm house appeared out of the heat waves.  I could have been imagining it, but a small voice in my head started singing some sort of thankful praise, like my own mental gospel choir.  

It’s been so long since I was without basic comforts and luxuries, like tv, internet, fridges with food.  I had forgotten what it was like to be child like and explore and wander around, letting my imagination run free and not having other people give me ideas but just letting myself think and explore without influence.  For me, my brother and sister, it was truly an afternoon to be kids again.  We explored under rocks, gawked at bugs, made silly shadows, and all in all had an awesome time.  It was an afternoon to remember, and a real blessing in disguise.  Sometimes I remember to relax and let life unfold.  Sometimes our adult selves are given a chance to be a kid again, and to refresh the good moments of being a child and appreciate the NOW so much more.  It was a special afternoon and will always be thought of fondly.

- All photos from a Panasonic Lumix DSC- FZ8, and Iphone 3s.

- Posted by Mark

Just a quick post today. We photographed Black Tie catering’s recent secret supper – and this time it was held at the Atlanta Ballet. How awesome is that?! Too. Awesome.

Hey. It’s Thursday. Let’s Go.

- Posted by Leah

There was a wonderfully beautiful post on Offbeat Mama the other day – one that resonated with me on several levels – as an adoptee, as a parent, and as a person who loves to ponder the intricacies of identity, of transitions, and of family.

One quote in particular has been bouncing around in my brain: “Sometimes holding yourself back, playing your cards close to the chest, is the only defense we have. Our silence makes us secure.”

I’m a very open person, for the most part. But there are things I’d rather keep quiet. I don’t necessarily want everyone to know all of my weaknesses. I don’t want people witnessing all of my mistakes, my awkward moments.

Before I became a mom, I viewed the transition to parenthood as similar to other transitions in life: the transition to “adulthood” (which, for me, was defined by finishing college, moving across the country, and getting my first full-time job – and a bunch of bills!), the transition to domestic partnership, the transition to married life, and the transition to self-employment. These are all big steps and with them comes a shift in identity, a new role, a change in how others perceive and/or define me. And with any new role, there is a learning curve, a period of adjustment, while I figure out what this transition means to me, how I define this new role and the expectations that come with it, both from me and from others. Do I accept these expectations? Or do I need to adjust the definition of what being a “wife” or being “an adult” means to something more in line with who I am?

With any new role there is the opportunity for awkward moments. New experiences are rife with awkwardness. But in the past I could hide much of that awkwardness. Feigning confidence, self-assuredness… fumbling my way through my first apartment search, my first time filing taxes, my first year of paying bills… I could make mistakes quietly. No one had to know – or at  the very least, only a few people had to know.

Becoming a parent is similar to any other major life transition… but unlike so many of those other transitions, I’m finding this one much more public. As I figure out this new role of “Mom,” as I integrate it into the other aspects of my identity – my life story – there are many awkward moments. Trying to nurse in public – quickly before Jonah starts screaming for the milk. Trying to get Jonah in and out of the Moby wrap the first few times. Trying to get the car seat adjusted properly. Trying to change a diaper without getting peed on. And because I refuse to stay shut up in my house, these things are all happening in public. With onlookers. Everyone out there is witnessing my transition to motherhood – my awkwardness and my fumbling. I can’t hide this part of me. I’m a new mom. And my baby is so darn cute, people can’t help but stare (haha, that’s what I tell myself!).

Luckily for me, I’m not too easily embarrassed. Like any other transition, the newness will wear off. I will find my groove – in many ways, I already have. I’m so much more comfortable taking Jonah out and about. There will always be awkward moments – children aren’t the most predictable creatures on the planet, after all. But I’m not going to let a fear of looking/feeling uncomfortable stop me from exploring the world with my son. I’m embracing this awkwardness. It feels uncomfortable now, but it already feels less so. My 22-year-old baby adult self would have been horrified to be seen making a mistake or not knowing exactly what to do…my 30-year-old mom self is just going to shrug it off and kiss Jonah’s big squishy cheeks. I have WAY more important things to concern myself with these days. So bring on the awkwardness!

- Posted by Mark

Hi. We’re Leah and Mark. We have the best Photography Internship in the Country.

We’re forever amazed, appreciative and just absolutely grateful to everyone who has ever applied for our Internship – and of course to everyone that has been our Intern and worked with us. The fact that we’re just about to start our Seventh Season is… well… back when we started, we never thought it would last past that first group of Interns. I mean come on – who does this sort of stuff? Who else has an Internship like we do?

No. One.

Of course – our Internship blurs the lines and mixes apprenticeship, internship, mentorship, and training…ship. The experience is also different for every single Intern. Some are simply less involved and they have a completely different experience than some of our Interns who are there, present, and shooting All. The. Time. Intern Marj from Season 4 MOVED HERE from COLORADO for the three months. She literally went on about 56 photoshoots/events during her Season. LITERALLY. (I’m using the word correctly here.)

Our needs change from Season to Season as well. We don’t look for the same type of Interns every time. It might not look like it – but we do mix it up. Skill levels. Personalities. Experience. Other qualities that an Intern might bring to the group, to our business – and just people we want to hangout with. Because we’re all not getting paid for any of this – so we better like hanging out with each other.

(This video is from Season One)

So the selection process goes like this.

- 1st application.
- Each person makes their list. (Leah, Mark, Raven, Debra, Jo)
- 1st Round Cuts.
- 2nd Application.
- Each person makes their list. (Leah, Mark, Raven, Debra, Jo)
- Discussion. Back alley deals are made. More discussion. More back alley deals made.
- Final notifications sent out.

Now. I know it looks like we’re being nice and giving back and all that – but make no mistake – the decisions we make for our Internship are business decisions. So while it seems like we’re choosing ‘students’ – what we’re really selecting are people who will represent us and our business. And like I said earlier – our needs change with every Season. This is why our applications are made the way they are (short answer essay) and why we do some of the things we do (36 hour deadline for the 2nd application – at 3AM. THREE. A.M.)

We also leave a few things open ended – or vague – or just as an unknown test – not because we’re jerks, but because if you’re All. In. then you’ll do these things we ask without hesitation, and unconditionally (well, I’m a jerk – Leah’s not a jerk). We’ve had people cut their vacations short and fly in from Texas just so that they could attend our Intern Graduation/Introduction night. We’ve had people MOVE here from Colorado, and Florida. Why would we select people that have reservations about this whole thing? Or it’s value. Or whether or not it’ll be worth their effort? We’re All. In. and that’s what we expect from anyone that joins us.

So. We have a new batch of Interns. For some of them, this was their 4th time applying – YES. They applied four times. While it doesn’t always guarantee a spot – it’s definitely noted. So here we go. We’ll be introducing our Season Seven Interns next Monday.

{photos and text by +jo}

iPhoneography.

That’s what really got me to take my self a little more serious about photography. There are a lot of opinions out there about iPhoneography and what it’s applications mean to a lot of different industries. I didn’t have a clue one year ago.

I’ve written about what the internship is and what it did for me. Something that I don’t think I’ve fully put out there is that I truly haven’t been at this photography thing very long. Less than a year. I realize this could be seen in a negative manner – but I see it at just the opposite. I’ve shot off like a rocket and there’s no stopping me.  I’ve blasted through the atmosphere and am racing towards the stars.

But that’s a tangent for another day.

Today it is about iPhoneography and that equipment does not make a photo. The person behind it does. It’s a common thing to get hung up on – the best equipment - I know I am.  It’s a hard beast to conquer. Right now I am catatonically dreaming about the new Nikon D4 knowing it is just that – a dream. I do need another camera, that is true, but I also completely and utterly pushed the boundaries of the camera I have. And even when I get my “big girl camera” I will still be shooting with my Nikon D40x. It’s not even produced anymore.

I’ll never stoping using her. I’ve had her for years, tucked away in a simple camera bag only to be pulled out every now and then for documentation or producing my own stock photos for designs in college. I never really thought more of it. Then I found a personal assistant job this time last year to another photographer here in Atlanta. That was a crazy few months and I quickly had to buy a better phone to keep up with everything in her schedule. And then I found Instagram.  The simplest little camera in my iPhone 3Gs {yeah, not even the big dog in that area, either} really made me view photography differently. For what ever reason, I found the limited quality and capability very freeing. I simply concentrated on composition and the basic elements and principles of art. I dug more and more into the editing aspects and worked with producing completed photographs all in camera/phone.

I shot anything that caught my eye. I started to see the world around me differently. It was a nice distraction when I had to travel or waiting for a meeting to end. Something in the little squares made me think twice about the little D40x shoved away in some corner barely seeing the light of day.

I eventually applied to a photography competition with my iPhonography to be apart of a gallery show in New York City. And I made it in. How funny is that? It wasn’t with the top of the line camera, with the top of the line lights, with a killer location, with experienced models, with tons of assistants. It was simply me and my little 3Gs taking pictures where ever I happen to be.

It wasn’t the equipment.

Around here at LeahAndMark.com we get things done. Creatively. On a budget.  You don’t have to have $15,000 worth of equipment to get the “perfect shot” because the viewer will not see all of the stuff beyond the edge of the image. All of the trimmings and accessories don’t matter as long as the end result is killer and knocks the socks off the client.

Don’t get me wrong – I know many of these photos are not the best. They are where I started. If you search far enough back in this blog you can find the posts where Mark started his journey. You can see where he made his mistakes and figured them out. You can see where his evolution began. I wanted to share mine because I want to be completely open with you.

I’m on a new edge – another booster strapped to my rocket ship – and I’m about to take off again. I don’t want the journey to be a mystery.
Will you come along with me?

~*~

I recently made a journey to South Africa, the country where I was born.  I moved to the United States when I was 11, so returning to South Africa gave me an opportunity to experience the country as an adult.  For me personally it was an opportunity to know the country my family is from, and also an opportunity to reconcile with my father, whom I hadn’t seen in 18 years.  He remarried and had 4 children with his new wife, so I was able to meet my half siblings, and experience a part of the trip through the eyes of children.  It was wonderful.  Saying that it was wonderful could never fully encapsulate the profoundness of the trip, the people, and the country.  IT WAS AWESOME.

I traveled with my older brother and sister, whom I met in South Africa.  My brother traveled from Atlanta, and my sister flew in from South Korea, where she has been teaching English for the past year.  It was the first time back to South Africa for all 3 of us, and wonderful that we were able to make the journey together and share the many memories.  My world, my heart, and my future doubled in size, and coming back to the States made me realize how blessed and full my life is.  I am so lucky to have a far flung and diverse family, and a personal history rich in diversity, strife, triumph, and love.  I am better able to understand who I am and where I want to go after the experience, and am overflowing with gratitude to the many people who make up my personal experience.

South Africa is known as the land of contrast, it is geographically diverse as well as a mecca of different cultures.  It’s a truly magical place.  If you ever have the opportunity to visit South Africa, I highly recommend jumping in with an open heart and open eyes.  The food, the people, the history, the nature, everything is an adventure just waiting to be discovered.  If you make it to South Africa, take an appetite for life.  You will be satisfied beyond your wildest imagination.

I chose to travel without my work camera, all of the pictures in this blog were taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS8.  It’s a great little point and shoot, and also makes great videos.  I asked Santa for this camera because I wanted a small camera with big bang, and was pleasantly surprised by how capable and diverse the camera turned out to be.  It took some getting used to, after shooting with a DSLR for the past few years.  My biggest struggles were running out of battery, not being able to select my focal point quickly, shutter lag, and lack of burst shooting.  I was forced to focus on composition, and to maneuver myself for the best possible shots.  All in all I am very pleased with the pictures, I am not expecting National Geographic to come calling, nor do the pictures have all the fine detail one can get with a professional DSLR, but the Lumix is still pretty bad a$$ for a compact fit in your pocket point and shoot for under $200.  It’s a great camera, and I am thrilled to have it in my collection.

We spent the first few days in the North Eastern part of South Africa, in a small town called Hazy View.  It is very close to the Kruger National Park.  One early early morning we went on Safari, and went and waited in line to enter the park at dawn.  These pictures of grass and the millipede were the only time I was not in the vehicle.  Strict safety regulations require that you are in the vehicle at all times.  I snapped these pictures while our guide filled out paperwork for our safari. These pictures are the closest I got to the “wild life”, and I say this to point out the awesome zoom capabilities of the Lumix, as will be demonstrated in the pictures to follow.  The animals were sometimes close to the road, and at other times quite far off, so far that I had to use the camera to actually see them up close.  That camera is seriously awesome.

The headliner shot of the leopard in the tree was the luckiest shot of the day.  Right as we joined a group of cars on the side of the road, the leopard decided to get up and move out of the tree.  I was so LUCKY to have the camera in hand, and get this beautiful photo.

Below is a photo of our open air safari vehicle.  If you go on Safari I highly recommend going with a tour guide.  They are very knowledgeable, and also work together via radio to make sure their guests get to see the more elusive animals such as leopards and lions.  The photo on the right is of a male Springbok, the South Africa National animal. 

There are monkeys all over the place, and I just loved how the mommy monkey is holding the baby, and then the baby decided to dash off and play in the neck of the tree.  I was missing my own baby Shannon ALOT so I took note of all the mommy and baby animals.  Besides, who doesn’t love baby cuddly anything, monkey or not. On the left is a small bird called the King Fisher, and on the right is a vulture and an African eagle.
This baby Zebra stayed close to it’s mom.  It’s said that the babies memorize the mothers pattern, and that no 2 zebra’s are alike.  You can see also that the mommy is heavily pregnant with another foal. 

We heard lions, and saw a small traffic jam on the road long before we saw them. The lioness came out and looked at everybody, and soon after the male was spotted slinking towards her.  They stayed behind the trees for privacy, and did their lion baby making thing.  It was a bit startling to hear the lion roar, and realize, “Oh Em Gee that lion is 30 feet away!” Warthogs, our guide warned us that they are quite vicious and have been known to charge cars.  I imagine those horns are not too good for the tires.
Female Springboks, they wander and graze with the young and are easily visible.

Wild buffalo were spotted in the distance multiple times, as were elephants.  Kruger Park has an overabundance of elephants.  It is a park that does not practice culling, so the population is getting too big for the park to support.  They are huge animals, and eat an extraordinary amount of food.  They are massive, on scale with standing next to an 18 wheeler compacted into an SUV type of big..or something like that.  They also seem to be extraordinarily intelligent, you can see in their eyes how they watch and move.  

For a New Years Day surprise my dad took all of us to ride elephants. It was a once in a life time experience, and the elephants seem intelligent and compassionate creatures.  If you have the time I recommend checking out one of the local elephant sanctuary’s.  The ride was a bit uhm, jolting, but being close to the magnificent creatures and getting to touch their remarkable skin was incredibly memorable.  All in all our time in Hazy View was astounding.  Join me next week for pictures from the Cape!

Apply for Season Seven of our Photography Internship Here.

- Posted by Alumni Intern Chris

Wow. What’s changed for me since the internship, huh? A LOT. But in case you don’t know me, I was part of Team Awesome (also known as Season 2). To explain where I am now, I have to explain where I’ve been. If you do remember me, you can skip the next couple of paragraphs.

About 6 years ago, I took a retail job in the mall at Picture People. Just a part time gig while going to school, something I thought looked like fun. I’d never done phtogoraphy or had an interest in it before, but within just a couple hours, I was hooked. Worked there doing family and children’s portraits for about 6 months and started working for a company going around to day care centers and doing school portraits. After about a year of making 17% commission, I realized I could just do it on my own, and do it better. I did that for a few years before coming across the Craigslist ad that changed my life: the internship with LeahAndMark.com.

I hadn’t shot a wedding, or an event, or worked with models, or really ever shot anything “artistic” because my focus had always been retail (quick-selling prints) photography. The internship looked like a fun way to break my boundaries and learn new stuff. Now, I have 5 kids, and I was still running my business, not to mention the internship literally fell on a super-busy time for me: back-to-school and the lead-up to Anime Weekend Atlanta, of which I was an Assistant-Director at the time. Back in the day, Mark required 1 shoot a week (as opposed to 2 a month now), something that several weeks I fell short of, not being able to use my school photo shoots due to liability issues (turns out most people don’t want some stranger posting pictures of their kids online!), and also due to my obligations for AWA. And in the moment, you think, “It’s no big deal, I’ll make it up later”. But that was the fastest 3 months of my life, and I was left at the end feeling unfulfilled. Not by Mark, but by myself. I’d let myself, and Mark, down when it all finished out, and I was disappointed.

Now, that’s not to say I didn’t learn A TON during the internship. I did. WAY more than I could process. To this day, I’ll be on a shoot and something that Mark tried to teach will click into place. I expect that to happen for a long time. Like with any kind of learning, it’s near impossible to process everything on the fly, but with Mark, it’s even more so. His motto is simple: GO. And he doesn’t have a throttle. You’re lucky if you get a chance to sit in and strap down before he’s flying through shoots and marketing and models and locations and more. It’s insane. And AWESOME. I learned pretty quickly to just open my ears and mind and try to gather information to process later.

For example: I was sitting with Mark at lunch one day and I asked him how he kept cool on weddings. I mean, to me, the pressure of a MAJOR shoot, with zero option of a reshoot if you mess up is huge. Then you have family members getting in your way, people telling to get this shot, or the bride getting upset, or even worse, the bride’s mom, who wants a magical perfect day for her princess. I had pointedly avoided wedding photography before because of all this insane pressure I’d built up. His answer? “Huh. Never thought of it that way.” He shrugged and continued eating. Even after shooting a wedding with him, where I felt I’d failed pretty miserably, I didn’t get it. It wasn’t until I shot my first wedding on my own that it clicked. You can think there’s all that pressure, or you can decide to enable the couple to have a wonderful day. That’s it. Just do it. I’m a personable guy, I like to joke around and have fun, and I simply decided that’s how I’ll handle weddings. It was so easy, and to be honest, I’ve never noticed all that stressful stuff I’d freaked out about. Now, it could be that I’m a big believer in a good fit, but I treat my couples like friends so they don’t worry about the photos. And you know what? They love the results.

Marketing is something else that I just didn’t get until later. To a degree, I’m still not all that great at it. Honestly, with 5 kids and school, I don’t get that much time to go out and market, but I’m getting better at it. I still go over my notes from the internship to get ideas. I do have the benefit of having a wife that makes enough money that I’ve never been in a make-it-or-break-it position with my photography, but I’ve had to learn a lot. Last year, in April, I opened a physical studio. I’d been doing well enough with my photography that I figured a budget of roughly $1000 a month was fair for my own location. It was a small place right off the square in Carrollton, where I lived. It did okay for itself, floating it’s bills, but it’s biggest impact was it forced me to rethink marketing. Marketing a hobby, or even a come-to-you kind of business is completely different than marketing a location. Some of it’s the same: shoot more, show everything, blog, social media, etc., but a LOT is different. All of a sudden, you have monthly overhead. You have a door to get people through, and you start having a public face. There’s pressure that wasn’t there before. But I loved my studio; it was my place to go everyday to work. When I wasn’t on a shoot or working on photos, I was working on marketing. Unfortunately, we moved in September to an area with much higher rent prices, so I had to close the studio, but my business name is still Off the Square Photography.

LIGHT. My god, the thing I never picked up while working with Mark was the use of flashes. I’d always shot on a backdrop, using high-powered studio strobes, so I never had to mess with settings on my camera to figure stuff out. My camera was a set-it-and-forget-it deal, going between my one set of settings for shoots and Aperture Priority mode for everything else. That was it. Then Mark came along with these little battery powered lights that really annoyed me. I mean, the light was harsh and underpowered, and I couldn’t get them do what I wanted. I mean, really annoying. But you know what? They work when you stop to figure them out. It took me a while—okay, a long time—to do just that, but now I use them for on-site stuff all the time. I’ll still pack the strobes for big family shoots, but for anything with smaller groups, a couple of flashes work just fine. Technically speaking, working with flashes was probably my biggest take-away from the internship. It’s allowed me to be MUCH more portable and versatile in the kind of shoots and locations I’ll work with.

Oh, one other thing I learned: how to handle interns. I have my own awesome intern now, Jennifer, who I have a blast working with. From Mark, I learned how to manage people and work with them while not seeming like “a boss”. Having someone to work with and teach is amazingly fun, and while I was reluctant to take on an intern (am I really that good?), I’m a better photographer for it. Internships are a two-way street. Something I’ve learned since taking my own intern is that you can learn a lot from someone learning from you. I’ve learned stuff from my own intern that I didn’t know before. SHHH! Don’t tell her that!

Now, I know things have changed since Team Awesome split; Mark never stops learning, and that’s the benefit for each successive season of interns. And honestly, we all should never stop learning. I have a big library of books from Joe McNally, Scott Kelby, Syl Arena, David duChemin, Matt Kloskowski, and others all on my iPad. I’m constantly reading them to learn more, along with countless photography blogs. I’ve attended workshops too, but all of this is useless until you do the one thing that you learn most from: Shooting. Get out there. Shoot. Don’t think, just do. The more you sit around and read stuff and “plan”, the less you’re out actually shooting. You’ll never land a client if you plan your marketing, or read that next book. You have to have a portfolio, you have to shoot. By all means, spend time learning, but the best teacher in the world is experience. Screw up. When you do, you have to figure out how to fix it. Joe McNally opened his workshop with this quote: “Mistakes are the path to good pictures”. I screw up all the time. Luckily not to the point that it’s ever made anyone mad, but when I do, I’m presented with the opportunity to find the solution. I love that. Overcoming obstacles makes me feel awesome, and I’m all about feeling awesome. And you know what? When I mess up and have to try something different, I usually do end up with a great shot.

Something that I learned on my own, for myself, is that charity work is incredibly rewarding. I’ve worked with several charities, from Trees Atlanta to my ongoing, close relationship with Project Live Love, doing everything from donating work for auctions to shooting events, to doing product photography. I very, very strongly believe in giving back to a world that has given so much to me, and I can’t describe how it feels to help with organizations that impact the community. In addition to my ongoing work with Project Live Love, I also strive to sponsor one charity a month through my services, and I have a dream of my own charity organization providing children’s and family photography to underprivileged families. Charity work isn’t for everyone, and it’s certainly to a degree a financial drain, but for me, the personal reward far outweighs the opportunity cost when I have the honor of giving back. I strongly encourage everyone, photographers and non-photographers alike, to find a way to give back to the community in their own unique way every once in a while.

I’ll close with this: if I could do it all again, be an intern again, I would do it in a heartbeat. I always recommend Mark’s internship to friends who want to be photographers. It was the most fun 3 months I’ve ever had, and it truly transformed my photography and business. Mark’s an incredible teacher, and he makes it all fun. It’s intense, and I wasn’t prepared for that, but I didn’t give up either. I’m glad I didn’t, ‘cause I’d probably still be shooting day cares and not knowing a whole lot else about photography.

Check out Chris Liphart at Off the Square Photography.

Being a photographer is a lot like being a Boy Scout {or so I’m told}.  It means being prepared.

Always.  FOR ANYTHING.  Especially as a wedding photographer.

It’s happened before where I’ll bring a group of interns out to shoot in some crazy condition or another, and at the end of the session, when I ask if they learned anything, etc., they responded “well, yeah, but I wouldn’t bring my clients out in the pitch black/the snow/in full sunlight/etc.”

Which really, is ridiculous.  Your client has faith in you to make the best possible images out of even the worst possible scenarios.

Not two weeks after I took some clients out in the pitch black of night to shoot them, I shot a wedding in which almost every one of the formal pictures, including those of the bride and groom, had to be shot outside at 9:00pm.

I wasn’t worried; I had just practiced this type of situation.  And everything went swimmingly.

And personally?  I think it would be amazing to get married when it’s snowing.  And I would never, EVER hire a photographer who wasn’t willing to get into knee-deep snow to get those last amazing shots on my wedding day.  Because I know that I would do that for MY brides.  In a heartbeat.

We’re not a bunch of namby-pamby’s, here.  We get into waist-deep water.  We shoot in the snow.  We shoot in the dead of the night.  We lay down, we jump around, we launch ourselves off of chairs, we fling our cameras around our heads by the straps!  {Well, maybe not that last one.  But we would if it were required and we could do it safely.}

Break out of your comfort zone.  Stop shooting only in the Golden Hour.  You know what I’m talking about.  Is it beautiful?  YES.  Is it ideal?  YES.  Is it the situation you’ll always be given?  NO.  And I certainly hope it’s not.

Do completely wacky shoots, force yourself to branch, and stretch.  Shoot in conditions you don’t think you’ll ever be in.

Because guess what?  You’ll find yourself in those same conditions again.  And you’ll be prepared.

Don’t forget: You.  Are.  Awesome.

- Posted by Leah

I’ve always tried to be present, mindful, aware of the here-and-now. But it’s so easy to get distracted, to think about what I’m doing in 5 days or 5 months or 5 minutes, what people are saying on Facebook, what I should blog about next, what I want to eat for dinner… so I only succeeded at being truly present about 2% of the time. Or maybe .02%.

Having a kid has definitely changed that. It has forced me into the present, where I now spend around 93% of my time. I *want* to be present, to see Jonah smile, to hear his new sounds, to respond. I want him to know that he has attentive parents, that he is valued and cared about and respected.

And I *have* to be present – to read his cues and know when he needs to eat or go to the bathroom or get cuddled. I have to make sure he is safe and warm and (relatively) clean. I can’t just let my mind wander.  I can’t be living 5 minutes ahead. I have to be right here and now, caring for my son. Maybe that will change as he becomes more independent. But for now it’s been a wonderful exercise in mindfulness, in living completely in the moment.

It took me around 7 minutes to transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer today. It normally takes me a minute or less. But I was wearing Jonah in my Moby wrap, so I had to make sure he wasn’t getting too jostled around, pulling clothes out of the waaay bottom of our top-loading washer. I also had to unfold everything from the wet, clumped-together state a.) to make sure any bright yellow breastfed-baby poop stains had come out and b.) so that the cloth diapers would dry faster. And as I’m taking my sweet time to complete this very simple, mindless task, I realized that I was so very HERE. My mind wasn’t wandering. I felt incredibly calm.

In the past, I wouldn’t have even remembered transferring the clothes because I would be so distracted by my mental clutter. Jonah forces me to slow down. To be here, 100%. And what a gift that is! Maybe I can’t nearly as much done in a day… but the day itself is richer, is more full of memories, of moments fully lived. And I would trade that for a checked-off to-do list any day.