Lessons learned
During my workshop in Mongolia a very special attendee taught me some important lessons we should all remember...
Meet Alice, the youngest person ever to attend one of my tours.
I've had kids come along with their parents before, but Alice was more than just a kid... She unexpectedly turned into a teacher for the group of us that were on this tour.
Some back story... When Alice arrived in Mongolia I let her borrow my Lumix GH4 and the lenses I had such as the 12-35, 35-100 and the 100-400.
Quickly, everyone was drawn to her bubbly personality and she never went without someone to talk to, take for excursions and simply spent time with.
The adults went about our usual workshop schedule and I would drop in on Alice to see how she was doing, make sure was she enjoying herself and to check on her photos...
What I quickly noticed was that Alice was capturing many, if not all, and some other special photos that we all wished we had captured, day in, day out.
As I sat there, I would watch Alice position herself to take photos, engage with the subjects and smile as she reviewed her images on the screen... Id call it chimping, but Alice, well, she always waited till the action was completed... She never missed a thing. So she was reviewing, unlike the rest of us that were so excited to see what we captured, some of us missing images unfolding before us while we were the children and eagerly chimped...
I think the group us that were there in Mongolia can agree that the lessons we all walked away, learning from Alice were the following...
1) Preconceived expectations of what we are going to photograph cause us to not pay attention to some great photo opportunities that are happening behind us.
2) Not having fear to engage with the subjects creates special moments between photographer and subject.
3) Enjoying the moment and being grateful for the experience creates a positive attitude... that attitude transfers through your images and tells a story versus taking a photo.
4) Don't CHIMP... enjoy as much of the action as possible... review the images later.
5) Be kind to others.
Keeping to the theme of reviews Alice wrote along our travels, I thought I would write a review on her as she did on oll of us at our farewell dinner...
ALICE stands for...
A - adorable
L - loves to learn
I - innocent
C - childlike
E - exceptional travel companion
Here is my favorite photo that i managed to see from Alice...
I really liked the tender moment she captured here...
On behalf of everyone that was on the workshop, thank you Alice...