Element Photography

i’ve been told about a bazillion times as a business owner and manager that the “purple cow” by Seth Godin is a must read. I must say, they were right. The front cover reads “transform your business by being remarkable”. I like that. I like being remarkable. I find that the more of myself I put into my business – as a unique, and quirky as I am the more successful I am and the better I feel about everything. From what I blog about, to the types of clients I attract it’s a better fit from the get go when Im true to myself.

What the heck is a purple cow? Purple cow’s are something remarkable. Something worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Something you want to update your facebook status and tweet about, at the same time.

The concepts I learned from this book can be applied in so many different aspects of my life. weird. Maybe? but true!

I’ve learned that only I can be the best me. No one else can be the best Erika Walter. It’s true isn’t it? So I try to pour myself into my business being the best that I can be. ‘Cause no one else can. And that’s one small way I try to keep element photography – remarkable.

my take home ideas are:

-”the purple cow is so rare because people are afraid. if you are remarkable, it’s likely that some people won’t like you. That’s part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise — ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out.” so don’t take it personally!

-”Doing nothing is not as good as doing something (great). But marketing just to keep busy is worse than nothing at all.”

-”if you weren’t afraid of failing, what’s the most audacious thing you would try?”

-”Remarkable isn’t always about changing the biggest machine in your factory. It can be the way you answer the phone”

-”ideas that spread, win.”

-”copy. not from your own industry, but from any other industry. find a industry more dull than yours, discover who’s remarkable (it won’t take long), and do what they did.” only better!

-”what’s missing isn’t the remarkable ideas within your business, its the will to execute them”

-”Ask yourself, why not?”

There’s so much to learn on this topic but I felt that the “purple cow” really got the gears turning for me.

Did you read it??? Did you apply any of the purple cow concepts to your business??

I’m still in disbelief. I almost deleted the email by accident on my iphone. I paused a second and instead opened it without reading the subject line in full. I burst out in a fit of giggles (alone) in the coffee room at work. I stared at it for what felt like an eternity as it sunk in. I was just chosen by Weddingbells Magazine as “One of the 25 most inspiring wedding photographers of 2012″. say whaaat?! me? so fun. Thank you Weddingbells.ca for being so supportive of photographers like me and for the acknowledgement.

Make sure you check out the link. There’s a heck of a lot of talent going on over there!

Thank you to my brides + grooms for your quirky creativity! High fives everybody and back flips (if I could). Thanks for the massive support!

i’m loving all the goal setting i read about online in early January. Something so refreshing about it all. So I decided to start my own! With the new year kicking off with a big move to Vancouver Island, new jobs for M + myself things are off to a rockin’ sort of DREAM BIG start. and we love it! I’ll round off the post with some photos of my family absolutely killing the first annual Pfahl family Christmas photobooth. i hope you laugh, a lot. we did!

1. spend more time with M + my family

2. eat clean (trendy but what the heck)

3. develop regular workout habits

4. keep in better touch – call all my friends + family more often..facetime, skype, emails, texts or good ol’ snail mail. Im going to make it happen!

5. be positive

6. invest in slideshows for my clients

7. learn more about flash + lighting

8. attend CPhA conference with my dad (i skipped out last year)

9. take another thai cooking class

10. go on a missions trip

11. book fall/winter holiday with aeroplan points

12. start making designs for house plans – dream big?!

13. lend a hand  to my friend Sara around bird’s eye cove farm – however i can be of most help. Water girl??

14. plan to make more time for life – work a little less!

15. allocate more quality time in prayer + the word

16. laugh daily, and try to race M to be the first to make the other laugh daily. we’re slightly competitive so this should be fun!

17. start pinning new ideas for a blog rebrand + reVAMP!

18. plan a spring trip to Manitoba + another Christmas trip. Lots of babies coming in 2012 to cuddle : )

19. DIY DIY DIY! give my new home some style. good thing M’s handy!

As promised, here we go! Hayley’s Yoga check her classes and availablity HERE in Oliver and HERE at Reflections Yoga Studio in Penticton. Such an inspiration she is, rockin these moves on her 32nd birthday. For such a petite lady loo she packs alot of strength, power and determination.  Cheers to you!!

holy doodle this summer has been jam packed with couple’s sessions, engagement sessions and even a few family sessions! Its been a busy one and one of the most common questions I get asked after booking is…

“Erika you fashion guru you, your photo style is so outrageous we want to look great for our upcoming session, what on earth do we wear??”

(do people really ask that? yes. just like that? no. was that a little over-the-top? hehe maybe. Im no guru…but lets see what I say in response anyways)

“…Im certainly no fashionista, although I like to try! I do know that couples that go a little out of their way to dress and look extra great for their session never ever regret it. And while they look and feel extra fabulous their photos come out looking that much better!”

Then I share some of the following tips to help my clients get their creative juices flowing. Remember this is the fun part! The images below are items that I like personally, just like the items you select to wear should reflect you personally! Hopefully this helps to boost your inspiration!

I’ve never participated in a “live” shoot before, or a workshop for that matter.  A first for many of us!  This was the lay of the land, somewhere in the mix there is our fearless leader Jamie Delaine and you can juuuuust catch a glimpse of our models hat.

Get yer elbows out ladies if you want to get the shot. Channel your inner paparazzi and hustle, hustle, hustle….!

Here come a few shots that I managed to snag!  Leanne + Sam we so great to work with and so patient as 18 cameras fired away!  Jamie was efficient and instructed us in lighting, camera setting and client conduct.

Leanne’s hippie lovin’ headband comes from PeaceLoveVintage

Leanne’s hair and make up by Kristy lee Makeup

You can check out many more images on Jamie’s lovely workshop recap HERE.

this weekend I gathered with 3 handfuls of incredibly talented women to take part in Jamie Delaine’s - DREAMERS workshop.  I didn’t sleep well Sunday night I was full of anticipation for the day ahead of me. I wanted to be a sponge, absorb it all, I couldnt wait. I fretted about how I was supposed to navigate from Langley to Fort Langley, I did not know how to work the GPS that I borrowed from a friend. My mind wandered…what if I break down, or worse get lost. What if I get lost and miss the workshop all because I cant navigate a 15 min drive to my destination on glover road. Oh dear I’m in over my head. over my head. I dont spend alot of time in cities these days and quite honestly trying to drive around in them sans co-pilot wigs me out a little. My small town has 2 stop lights. This works well for me. THANKFULLY my wonderful host family the Peters, (who I photographed at Spirit Ridge earlier this Spring) draw the worlds best home made maps, make the best granola and were the best cheerleaders to pump me up for the drive ahead of me.

I made it to Fort Langley just in the nick of time and was greeted at the front door by Jamie herself. Smiling she welcomed me into her darling studio as we chatted about what we had been up to since August 2010. “i made it!” and “so nice to see a familiar face” and “ohhh I like your new hair” and “look at this place, i love it”. I turned the corner inside and tucked in snug as a bug were 15 other beautiful faces smiling back at me, many which I had seen before online and via facebook. It was so awesome to finally be really say hi and laugh, compliment and share ideas. I was a little intimidated by the sight but could not wait to get to know them more over the course of the day.

At my seat sat a 2 small packages and a card. Gifts from Jamie. Chocolate for breakfast and a simple journal to house my dreams.

Jamie opened up to us about her business, her past, what she hopes for in the future. We discussed vision, branding, defining your business and your ideal client, inspiration, the power of your website/blog, client experience, wedding day timelines, pricing, submissions, outsourcing and participated in a LIVE shoot lesson in lighting and edit session. She poured it all out in 12 hours or less. I listened, took notes, thought about what she was saying and imagined how I could harness these lessons and apply them to my business. I filled up my notebook margins with ideas. Focus points. Directions to pursue with my business. How to be-more-awesome, and how to show you how awesome I am.  At the end of the day I was awestruck by Jamie. My mind was a whirlwind.  She was so honest with us and candid about herself and her business. She spoke from the heart and showed us how important it is in every little way to consciously move forward every day.

As I hit the highway that night enroute back to Osoyoos my mind was a buzz. I was on a high. High on life. It gave me alot of time to think about myself and to evaluate where my life was at, and where its headed. What is important to me? What do I love? Why? What does my teux-deux list look like??

find space to dream.

This has been the accelerator and shot of energy that I needed. And heading into a busy summer season it could not have  been more perfect timing. Thank you Jamie, so very much for your time. For all of your hard work in putting this event together. For your confidence in stepping up on your soap box to encourage and lead others. For the collaboration with other stellar vendors, your beautiful models Leanne + Sam who helped make the day extra special. For reminding us to make ourselves and our families a priority, and finally for your thoughts and your inspiration for us all to move forward in this industry.

live fearlessly and dream forward.

PS.  Watch for PART 2 DREAMERS – LIVE SHOOT  featuring Leanne + Sam….there was just too much for one post : )

flowers - Balconi Florist

makeup - Kristy Lee Make-Up

eats – Wendells cafe Fort Langley

ecstatic is an understatement, and im not sure that over-the-moon even comes close to how excited I am about JD’s upcoming workshop!

Jamie will be hosting 15-20 talented photographers for a day of learning and observing her at work. She will cover such things as – how she got started, branding, harnessing the power of your blog and website, inspiration, marketing, creating a business you love to run, lighting, work/life balance (which is always a tough one for me). We will get to watch and participate with her as she shoots a couple live, watching how she interacts with them and how she works. Basically she is allowing us to have a little peek into what makes her so gosh darn successful at what see does.

Im really looking forward to learning as much as I can and applying it to my business.  This will be the very first time I take part in a workshop like this, dreamed about committing myself to one for a while but the timing never worked out. This time, the timing is perfect, my mind is clear and I cant-wait-to-soak-it-all-up!!

one lucky winner will secure a free workshop spot! fingers crossed.

We took a little break from the daily grind. Truth is, a 5 week break. Much needed, and well worth every single second. We began with 9 days in Manitoba celebrating two lovely weddings and catching up with friends in between, then off to a handful of stunning Thai islands for  3.5 weeks of adventure!  Due to popular demand from facebook friends (thanks guys!) I’ve posted a couple photos from our trip! With way too many photos to parouse, I choose one  from Ko Phi Phi Leh, Hat Railay, and Ko Tao three of our favorite destinations. What was my highlight of the trip? Getting to spend all day everyday unplugged, in island paradise, with delicious eats, focussing one-on-one on my relationship with M.  Perfection! I will certainly post more photos in the next couple of weeks once I’ve shaken this mega dose of jet lag that I am presently dealing with!

This post is so long overdue its completely ridiculous. Get ready ya’all its a doozie!

In the spring of 2009 I was given the amazing opportunity to travel to Australia as part of the Rotary International Group Study Exchange (GSE) for our district 5060 to district 9550 Northern Australia. It was a long time dream of mine to take off to the land of OZ. But never, ever did I think it would happen like this! GSE was an life experience that was bigger and better than I could have ever imagined. Honest!  We travelled from Darwin to Katherine, then through the Northern Outback areas of  Tennant Creek all the way to Charters Towers, to Townsville, Magnetic Island, Innisfail, Ingham, Misson Beach, Tully, Green Island, into the tablelands of Mareeba, Atherton, Port Douglas, finally Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef! PHEW! And we made a fancy little blog to keep our family and friend back home in the loop! The journey took us 5 weeks and introduced me to 5 important people that would become my family over those 5 weeks. We laughed together over sleepless nights on the bus, first time cuddles with koalas, white water rafting trips, monsoon thunderstorms, kangaroo steaks and crocodile sausage, yacht sailing, snorkeling and scuba diving. The quality of the experience was top-notch as during our time there we job shadowed and shared with our professional colleagues from down under new ideas.  We were fortunate to be paired up with host families and we were able to experience Aussie day to day life which was so enriching and so unlike anything I have ever done before!  Mucho thanks to facebook, and email I still keep in touch with some of my “parents” and “siblings” that I really connected with during my stay. how cool is that?

SO here is the deal!  If you are a young and FUN professional (any kind will do) between the ages of 25 and 40, you LOVE to travel…you need to do this. Every year there is an exchange that takes place between pretty much every Rotary District.  I applied on a whim, thinking “no way am I ever going to get in on this” I was probably the youngest person who showed up! do it do it do it. Rotary Group Study Exchange.  You will not be sorry and its not going to cost you a thing!

After GSE wrapped up in Cairns my best gal Rachelle flew in from Saskatoon. (dont you love a friend who jumps on board with you on your crazy adventures?). The two of us backpacked it down the eastern coast of Australia along the sunshine coast and the gold coast. We sailed the Whitsunday Islands, caught a couple waves in the Town of 1770, soaked up rays in Surfers Paradise, flew over the countryside in a hot air ballooooon, biked around Byron Bay in the wee early hours to see the sunrise at the famous lighthouse, ate a whole lot of seafood, and walked a bazillion steps around Sydney and Bondi Beach.  Many of these gorgeous places we visited have been affected by the massive flooding in Aus in one way or another, all my thoughts and prayers go out to the families and travelers navigating the chaos. Hoping for flood waters to regress and recovery to start soon.

The photos are a smattering of highlights from the trip! enjoy!

“live in sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air” – Ralph Waldo Emerson