THEHOUSEINCANOE COUPLE’S SESSION AT THE FERNWEH WORKSHOP IN BC WITH TRICIA VICTORIA AND JAYME FORD

These were photographed at the thehouseincanoe property in Salmon Arm, during the Fernweh workshop hosted by Tricia Victoria and Jayme Ford.

This workshop was LIFE CHANGING. Of all of the workshops I attended, I definitely took the most away from this one. Tricia and Jayme also brought in Yan Palmer for a keynote. Her lesson, especially, had me in tears and was incredibly cathartic.

Yan, Jayme and Tricia all made sure to make all of us feel listened to and appreciated. I suffer from so many mental illnesses which make it often difficult to be in group situations. I have blogged about the abuse I went through as a child. Sadly, I’m still in the pattern of abusing myself. The first day was great, and then I came back to the hotel and started following all the other photographer’s on Instagram. Immediately I  found myself falling into my habit of self doubt and sabotage. Was I even good enough to be there?

Really, I doubted whether I wanted to show up to day two or not. I’m so happy that my husband pushed me to go. Immediately I was made to feel welcome and like I belonged.

We started the day shooting a blended family session. Then we headed to the house in canoe for this adorable couple’s boudoir shoot. Afterward, we went to Jayme’s for lunch, and for Yan’s keynote and then headed to the beach for three more shoots at the end of the evening, including a couple’s bridal session with another great couple!

This couple were so down to earth and adorably affectionate. I loved how comfortable they were with one another, even with so many strangers in their home and with camera’s in their faces.

Yan’s keynote, and Jayme’s and Tricia’s as well, all had a lot to do with how I felt at the start of day 2.  A lot of what they taught, was about learning to recognize in yourself those bad habits you have, of putting yourself down. They also had suggestions for making workloads easier and focused a lot on mental health. I didn’t go to this workshop for photo content, but because they mentioned mental health especially within our industry.

Change won’t happen overnight, but now I feel like I have better tools to change my brain process eventually.