Capturing Childhood Photography Workshop

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Icarian Photography. All opinions are my own.

I have always considered myself a somewhat amateur photographer. 

I love taking photos, and as you've probably noticed, I take a ton of them. I love composing photos, finding the perfect lighting and background, and I'm a big fan of the rule of thirds. All the artsy stuff. 

But when it comes to the technical side of things, I've never really had much idea what I'm doing with my camera. Yep, I'm that mom with the fancy camera that leaves it set to auto and hopes for the best! 

Sound familiar? It's definitely a trap that a lot of people fall into, but it's especially true for a lot of moms. We buy that fancy camera with all the manual settings, with grand plans to take amazing photos of our kids. But then it all gets a little overwhelming and we forget about all those settings and leave it set auto. 

I'd always wanted to learn how to use my camera to its full potential (and to my full potential) but I didn't know where to start. YouTube videos and online tutorials were a little helpful, but they lacked that hands on experience and personal help that I really needed. When I discovered the Capturing Childhood workshop run by Melissa Schmidt of Bay Area based Icarian Photography I knew it was exactly what I was looking for.  

This full day workshop held at Phoenix co-working space in Alameda is designed specifically for mamas in that same situation as me. Those looking to capture all those precious moments of their children's lives but unsure about the trickier aspects of photography beyond simply pointing and clicking.

I took part in the Capturing Childhood workshop last year and I learned so much about using my camera. All those terms that I knew but never really understood suddenly made sense to me thanks to Melissa's approachable teaching style and the hands on practice. 

The workshop is aimed at women with beginner to intermediate camera skills and covers topics including understanding the exposure triangle, how to work with natural light, getting your camera out of auto mode, elements of composition, techniques for eliciting raw emotion in your subjects, and post processing basics in Adobe Lightroom. Plenty of hands on practice and honest discussion is included as well. The workshop is limited to fourteen participants which means that Melissa is able to dedicate plenty of time to helping everyone. 

If you're in the Bay Area and want to learn how get more out of your camera, you're in luck! Melissa has workshops coming up on April 28th and 29th. Wouldn't that make a perfect early Mother's Day gift? Or even just a treat to yourself. The workshop fee is $385 and includes breakfast and lunch, and Icarian Photography gift bag, and membership to the Capturing Childhood Facebook group where the photography discussions and learning continue.

For more information about the Capturing Childhood workshop and to sign up click here.

You know what I found myself doing after taking the Capturing Childhood workshop? I took my camera out of auto mode. I adjusted the ISO, set the aperture and played around with shutter speeds. I won't lie, sometimes it was a bit of hit and miss; but I was doing it! You know what they say: practice makes perfect. I didn't always get it right, and I still don't always get it right, but I'm learning how to and getting better all the time. The workshop gave me the confidence that I needed to take that step and give it a try. 

Here's a look at some of my favorite photos I've taken of the kids since taking the workshop. Not a single one of these was taken in auto - woo hoo!

If you're ready to take that next step and get the most out of your camera while making family memories, I highly recommend taking the Capturing Childhood photography workshop. The confidence that it gave me is something that I never would've learned through an online workshop or in a book.

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Workshop images by Melissa Schmidt, Icarian Photography.