Summer Adventure: 2013 internship || dfw wedding photographer

"When you are imagining you might as well imagine something worthwhile..."

// anne of green gables

I've always been a little bit in love with May Day.  Long before I even knew what it really was, I loved it because it conjured up visions of barefoot little girls dancing around a may pole in soft green grass, with flower crowns in their hair.  It seemed like a day meant for picnics and summer frocks, strawberry lemonade, pink cake, sunshine, and of course flowers.  After finally doing a little research on it one day to see how closely my visions of flowery happiness lined up with reality, I realized that May Day was every bit as lovely as it sounded--flowers and all.

So what better day to announce something equally happy: dates for this years Summer Adventure!

I definitely deliberated for a little while about wether scheduling one for this summer was wise or even a possibility, between a busy shooting schedule and the fact that I'm married and will be 7 months preggo by this time.  But I'm not generally one to back down from a challenge so lil' raspberry and I are happy to announce that we will be hosting the 2013 Summer Adventure: internship this June!

Date: June 26-29   Location: Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas   Cost: $625

Who should apply: girls age 16 & up who are looking for a little help learning some of the ins-&-outs of starting their own small photography business or honing their talent as a visual storyteller or one who documents life-lovely.

This is the 3rd year that I'll be hosting this, in the past 2 and 1/2 years I've hosted 7 internships + 22 girls and I love it a little more each time.  (See here and here for a peek into past years)  Every year I've been able to hone my vision of what I'm hoping to accomplish and cover during the week and each time it changes slightly but gets a little bit better.  After last year (which was amaaaaazing fun!) I realized that beyond just coming and sitting in sessions, going on shoots, talking about how to use photoshop or lightroom or how to write a contract, what really seemed to be a huge part of the learning process for everyone was just being surrounded by other young photographers who are in the same boat as you generally speaking and learning from each other as well as learning from me.  So my goal this year is to incorporate a little less "session" time, and a little more relationship time.  And as a part of that goal I'll be accepting up to 7 applicants, but I'm also opening it up to past attendees (alumni! whaaaat. ;) who would like to come back for three days of fun and a little "refresher" course!  (Alumni you can expect an email from me this week with details on how you can be a part of the week if you're interested!)

Topics we will cover: shooting in manual + running a photoshoot/shooting a wedding + editing in Lightroom/Photoshop + branding + posing + marketing + pricing + I'll do my best to answer any other random questions you might have!

The cost of tuition covers the internship and materials, food (3 yummy meals a day!) and lodging.  You're responsible for flight/travel to get you here, and spending money for starbucks runs, fro-yo, tacky souvenirs, or anything else we might be able to squeeze in.

If you're interested in being a part of the adventure, fill out THIS APPLICATION and email it to me (jessica @ jessicashae . com) as sooooon as possible!  I would ask that you please please only apply if you're serious about coming and know that you have the time and resources available for it.  There is a good chance I will not be able to accept everyone who applies (because of size limits) and I would hate to turn girls away to make room for you only to have you drop out last minute.

Looking forward to seeing all of your applications, this is always a highlight of my summer :)

Much Love,
Jessica Shae

summer adventure: internship || dallas, tx wedding photographer

"We are the music makers,

and we are the dreamers of dreams,

Wandering by lone sea breakers,

and sitting by desolate streams;--

World-losers and world-forsakers,

on whom the pale moon gleams,

Yet we are the movers and shakers

of the world forever it seems."

a. o'shaughnessy

Y'all have no idea how excited I am to FINALLY announce the dates and details for this--it's been in the brainstorming phase for so long because I've wanted to make forsure forsure that I had everything in place before I announced it--and now I feel like I'm going to burst after having held it in for so long :)  Many of you know about the internships I hosted last year, over 6 different weeks I had 13 interns, gained new friends, and had SO much fun with all of them. (click here for a fun little video I made during my 1st internship last year)  Going into this year I knew I wanted to revamp the program and take what I'd learned this past year and make it even better!  So here are all the fun and happy details about this years internship program.

First of all you should know that I'm only hosting ONE internship this year, and this might be the last one everrrr.  As much as I loved having so many girls last year, I know that I just don't have the time to devote 6 weeks to that this year.  But since I'm only having one week, I want to include as many of you as possible :)  So that brings me to happy little detail #1: the internship will be held at the Gaylord Texan, in Grapevine, TX. (please go click that link and get excited--serrrriously:)  I've booked a suite that has 2 bedrooms and a living area and can sleep up to 7 people, which means that I'll be able to accept 6 applications!  Aaaand happy announcement #2: I've asked Hannah Nicole to come and be a part of the internship and help me with the blog design part of things!  One of the things that I included in all of my internships last year was a new blog design for each intern that incorporated their new branding.  Since there's no way that I can roll out 5-6 new blogs in 4 days time Hannah will be there helping me with that aspect, and also teaching a session on design principles!  I'm kind of SUPER excited to have her be a part of it, y'all will get your money's worth just from what she'll add to the week :)  Oh, and the super fab graphic above was designed by Hannah, isn't she amazing? :)

And for those of you who are hearing about my internship program for the first time, here are a few more details about the week :)  We will be covering topics that range from: shooting in manual, creating a consistent workflow + editing in Lightroom, running a shoot + posing, marketing, branding, creating and maintaining aweeesome client relationships, and you'll also get the chance to practice what you're learning + build up your portfolio during 3 different shoots I'll have lined up with awesome models!  The $600 tuition covers your 4 day stay, your meals for the week (which will be aweeeesome), and other little fun goodies that I'll have waiting for you :)  All you'll need is some spending money for starbucks runs and frozen yogurt :)

So.  You should come.  Because summertime is the best, and adventures are amazing, so why not combine the two?

And here's how you can get a chance to do that!  If you'd like to apply, all you have to do is email me (jessica@jessicashae.com) letting me know why you'd like to come and what you're looking to get out of it, and send me a link to your blog/flickr/facebook page where you post your work! (edited to add: also, I'd love to know what camera you shoot with!)  You can apply starting today and I'll be accepting applications through May 15th. Once I've accepted your application there will be a 50% deposit due to hold your spot!

Because I'm thinking that there's a good chance I'll receive more than 6 applications and might have to turn some people away, I would ask that you pleeeaaase only apply if you're seriously interested and know that you'll be able to make it for those dates!  I'd hate to have to turn someone away so that I could accept you only to find out later that you're not able to make it :P

Super excited for this Summer!

EDITED TO ADD: Due to a high volume of applications I'm no longer accepting intern applications for Summer 2012.

Much Love,

Jessica Shae

p.s. for all you past interns, I'll also be having a special dinner/reunion at the end of the week that y'all are invited to, I'll be posting more about that later! :)

Summer internships {dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer}

Hey hey!  It's back, hoooray!

I was getting ready to march myself right up to photobucket HQ and put someone in timeout until they could get themselves straightened out!

That little hitch in the giddy-up kind of threw off my blogging groove for the week, so instead of blogging the pictures I was plaaaanning on blogging yesterday, I'm changing my mind (I do that alot;) and we're gonna talk about intern/mentorships.  

The good news is, I'm doing more!  The even good-er news is, I'm doing alooot more!  And the good-est news is, I might even be doing one near you! :)  Oh, pluuuus, there's free stuff involved ;)

So, because of some very sweet and convincing emails over the last few weeks (I'm such a sucker when people butter me up;) I'm not only hosting several more internships this summer, I'm going to be holding some of them out of state.  Meaning--yes, I will be doing several here in my great state, Texas, at my homestead ;)  But I am also for sure planning 1-2 weeks of internships in Colorado (my second favorite state) aaaand I'm open to the possibility of doing one in either Minnesota, or Georgia.  And if you want to see a few more details about what an internship with me looks like you can watch this video I made of my first interns or read either this or this post about two of my spring internships.

So here are the details.

The dates are flexible and subject to change slightly, but right now it looks like that's what's going to work best for me.  I already have 4 girls who are coming to my Colorado internships and I'm only going to be able to accept 2-3 more, so if you're interested in coming to that one, email me asap!  I also loooove to have out-of-towners for my TX internships, so if you're from out of state, nooo prob!  

If you're from one of the other two states I mentioned as possibilities, and are interested in hosting one near you, then shoot me an email and we'll talk!  Basically I'd need to have at least 4 girls interested in attending from that area before I could start planning definitely :)

The second opportunity that I want to tell you about is mentorships!

I get soooo many emails every week with questions ranging from, how to set up pricing, to who do I order prints from, to "I'm about to shoot my first wedding, do you have any tips??"  And let me tell ya, not only am I terrible at replying to emails, it's sooo hard to type up clear answers to some of those kinds of questions!  I'm a face to face kinda gal, so here's the dealio ;)

I'm offering a limited number of free mentorship spots.  You can take me to coffee or lunch, orrr if you live far away we can set up a a skype date, and talk!  You'll have 1-2 hours of my undivided attention and I'll try my best to answer all your questions!

The reason I'm doing this?

Several reasons.  One, because I know everyone doesn't have the time or the money to come to an internship.  And maybe you don't need a whole week of teaching you just have a couple of quick questions.  I want to do it for free because when I was just starting out, there were soooo many people that gave of their time to answer my million and one questions about everything under the sun.  Actually, forget the "when I was just starting out" part, there are still people to this day who I know I can call for help if I need it.  So I want to do that for someone else, or maybe several someone-elses ;)

So if you're interested in a mentorship spot, email me at jessica@jessicashae.com and let me know 5-10 questions you have for me.  

And I just have to say as a disclaimer to alllll of this.  I don't have all the answers.  I'm not the best qualified photography + business instructor in the world.  NotEvenClose actually.  But I love making new friends, I love teaching, I love helping people learn, and I love photography.  So come join me in all of that!

You have until the 25th of April to apply for both the internship and mentorship positions, and then I'll be announcing who's been accepted on April 27th!

Much Love.

Jessica Shae

Flip-flops: personal {dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer}

When I was little I told my parents that sometimes I woke up with flip-flops in my stomach, and it meant that something exciting was going to happen that day. Usually it was something I already knew about so I woke up expecting the happiness that was coming that day. But sometimes I would wake up with "flip-flops" in my tummy when nothing exciting was planned. . .and announce to mom that "something exciting is going to happen today!" And I firmly believed that my stomach knew something that I didn't. . .and waited expectantly all day for the "exciting" thing to come along.

Confession: I still wake up with "flip-flops" in my tummy.

But this morning I knew what they were about, internship week #2 starts today! It was a mixture of excitement and "Oh My Lands, I hope I can think of something to teach them this week!!" Haha, I kid I kid. . .kinda ;) I definitely have things to teach them, I just hope I can make it come out in co-herent thoughts ;) Hannah flew in from Washington State last night, and Jayne drove in this morning from College Station, TX. . .time to get the party started!

I bought some flowers to brighten up the Jessica Shae office/brainstorming room.


We started off with yum food. so SO important ;)


My desk is on it's best behavior...


We'll be having story time with Jessica later on ;)


It's supposed to be in the upper 70's/mid 80's all week. WElCOME SUMMER!(yeah, forget spring, we're just jumping right into summer;)


Starting things off with a little Brooke Fraser, she's my new find, (I know, so behind the times;) and her song "Love is Waiting" SO BRILLIANT.


Oh, hot pink socks with rolled up skinny jeans...to impress my interns with my awesome fashion style ;)


Me, and my flip-flopping tummy.



Ohhhhh, it's going to be a funnnn week!
Much Love.

Jessica Shae

Intern week #1: recap {dallas, tx engagement and wedding photographer}

Ahhh...at last a post about my darling interns ;)

It's been two weeks since these four darling people left me, and it feels like just yesterday they were all crammed into my little office/room with laptops and cameras. They came with 101 questions, and with so much creativity, ideas, hopes, dreams and goals that I wanted to bottle it up and keep it on my desk for mornings when I wake up and feel absolutely none of that at all. And now it's less than two weeks before the next batch gets here, and then two weeks later, my next group! Interns are soooo fun! ;)
I have to admit was kind of nervous about this week. I had a general idea of how I wanted the week to go, what we were going to cover, and what I wanted to accomplish, but ultimately, I'd never done this before, so I had no clue what to expect :) And lemme tell ya, these girls were the best guniea pigs everrrr!!!And we had SO much fun.If you haven't watched our intern video yet, please gooooo do that right now, because it is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself ;)
But enough chit-chat, let me introduce you to the real rockstars of this week, my interns! The last full day of the internship they got all gussied up, and we went out and did a shoot of THEM, so they would have pictures to use for their brand new blogs they'd just spent all week designing ;)


Allix(spelled with 2 "L's" and an "I" ;)She was my girl with the laid-back personality and some of the wittiest humor I have ever heard. She kept me in stitches all week with her wisecracks and quoting of movies (complete with correct accents). She was my youngest intern with the least training of us all, and she put me to shame with her creativity and passion, and how fast she picked up on things! And I've loved watching her over the past two weeks go back to E. Texas and plunge right into building her business. Everyone go check out her blog-io! ;)








And now my Rachel Leigh darling...I have to start out by saying that I looooved Rachel getting to be here for my first internship. She's been a blog reader practically since I started I think, and a faithful commenter on my blog posts. I got to shoot her senior portraits last Spring, and she came to my one day workshop last November. She's been such an encouragement to me, and I've loved watching her grow in her photography these past few years, and it was such an honor to get to be a part of it's continuing growth! :) We quoted Nacho Libre all week, and I almost wet my pants laughing (TMI anyone!?) several nights in a row while she told us stories that I then totally mis-understood and . . . yeah, I guess you had to be there!?It was funny, I promise.I looooved how Rachel's brand came out, simple and graceful, with an extra dose of happy, just like her ;)Go check out her new blog!














And last but not least, the Koehn sisters!(Koehn, pronounce Kane ;)Hannah and Carissa are from my area, we go to the same church, and it's been fun to watch them start their photography business over the last few months! And I loved how their brand came together! Their business name is "once upon a time photography" and their love of telling peoples "stories" and vintage typewriters" came together to make a suuuuper cute fun brand ;) These two are always laughing and smiling, and it was such a bonus having their smiling cheerful faces here everyday! Go check out their super cute blog!p.s. I'm secretly jealous of their blog wallpaper--it's so awesssome!


Hannah


Carissa























Now everyone, for reals go read their blogs and leave them some comments! Everyone can always use a little extra dose of encouragement and love ;)

Much Love.Jessica Shae

Interns week #1: video recap {dallas, tx engagement and wedding photographer}

Swing open up your chest and let it in
Just let the love, love, love begin

Everybody || Ingrid Michaelson

Intern week round 1 is over and oh my it was fabulous! :)

I can't wait to share details details about the week, all the awesome things we learned and talked about aaaand share their fabulous new blogs that we designed while they were here, but I'm saving that for another day. Today, you get a peek into what our week looked like in video form. Rachel and Allix both had video capabilities on their cameras and we had fun doing a little bit of video-ing throughout the week. And then I've been having fun in iMovie all weekend compiling and putting together a quick recap of what our week looked like ;)

Thank you Rachel and Allix for doing most of the video for this, and thanks to all four of you girls for an amazingly fun weekend! You were the best guinea pigs everrrr! ;)

Even tho I've seen it about a million times, it still makes me smile everrrry time I see it. Y'all are just so stinkin fun ;)

p.s. while editing this video, I listened the the song "everybody" about 30,745 times, and it is forever ingrained on my memory. I will still remember all the lyrics when I'm 93, I promise ;)

Much Love.

Jessica Shae