While we were in Philly for our four days of marathon shoots, we were able to set up a one on one mentor session with the sweet Ashley of Ashley Erin Photography, a budding wedding and portrait photographer from Bangor, Maine. Ashley wanted to do a shoot for her mentor session with us, so Ryan and Liz from Baltimore - the husband/wife wedding photography duo of Elizabeth Ryan Photography - stepped up to be our beautiful models for the shoot. Love these two!

These mentor sessions are so stinkin' fun for us. We get to spend a few hours teaching the ins and outs of how we work during a shoot, everything from the deep, dark in-camera technical stuff to setting up a cute couple to look their very cutest to how Jeff gets super emotional with his grooms. We get to bear our souls while dishing all about what goes on inside our heads when we have a camera in tow. I must give Ashley major props for soaking up the buckets of information we dumped on her! (If you're interested in a mentor session with The Youngrens, check out the details here and CONTACT US here.)

But not only did we get to pour into an amazing photographer, we got to capture the love between Ryan and Liz, two people that are head over heels in love!

I loved Liz's outfit and especially her leggings. In fact, I loved her leggings so much, that I bought some the very next day in Philly and have been wearing them ever since! Ha!

Squeeeeeeze!

The cute and adorable Ashley doing her fabulous thang!

These shoots tend to be 40% shooting and 60% teaching, so there was tons of instruction on lighting, posing, connection, and camera settings.

Ashley got to do her fair share of posing and directing, and she did an amazing job!

Ryan and Liz brought along a blanket as their prop - I thought it was such a creative idea!

My hubby is so brilliant. I love these shots he grabbed through a cafe window.

Of course, we were always around!

We came upon this Bentley outside of a coffeeshop and Jeff tracked down the owner to see if we could use it. Not only did he let us do a few photos with it, but he let Ryan and Ashley inside! Yay!

Love these!

The owner was so sweet, I couldn't help but give him a cameo.

A few more snuggles in the park.

Ryan and Liz: Thank you guys so much for being so open and honest in front of our cameras. Your hearts were so real with us and with each other, which is what made this shoot so amazing for both us and for Ashley. Thank you for being willing to get all emotional with us and for demonstrating what a wonderful love looks like!

Ashley: You. Are. Amazing. You are gonna go so far in this business and we're so proud of your hard work! Keep up the shutter clicking and never give up on this dream. You've got what it takes and we can't wait to watch you soar!

Hugs,

Erin

Ho boy. It's been a long month of travel...

Jeff and I are back in the house after a month of Indiana, Oregon, Philly, and PartnerCon in San Diego. So the worst part about this mind-fog is that I felt guilty. Being gone for that long means that I have a mountain of work waiting in the office and shouldn't I be at the computer powering through it? Why am I being such a baby about a bit of lame mind-fog?

So I clicked off the vaccuum and trudged upstairs towards the office, my cold sock feet dragging along the dirty floors, running into Jeff as he headed out the door for an errand. He was working through HIS to-do list like a madman. I could feel my guilt multiplying.

Before I could pass into the office, he grabbed me into a sudden bear hug. "You know, if I came home and you were taking a bath, I wouldn't be pissed." He smiled.

"You sure? I have so much to do. You'll think I'm lazy..." I mumbled, burying my foggy forehead into his shoulder trying to hide from the monster of to-dos creeping from my desk, not able to meet his productive and efficient eyes.

"I've never thought that about you ever, and I'm not about to start."

I haven't taken a bath in like a year. We have an enormous bathtub too - one of those deep, wide bathtubs separate from the walk-in shower. The second I first saw that beast in our master bath, I was sold on our house like a cow at auction. It's the only bathtub that is actually big enough for my long legged self and doesn't make me feel like a giantess in a kiddie pool. Going once, going twice, SOLD to the lady with the spider legs.

So after a full year of lying dormant, I dusted off my collection of bubble baths, revved up the bathtub, cranked up a Fresh Air podcast, and gave in to the fog in my mind. I think Jeff knew there was no point in fighting it - which is why I love him so much. He always seems to know what I don't think I need.

There's so much coming to the bloggy-blog this week and next - and I wanted to share a few favorites from PartnerCon in San Diego last week, taken by our friend and local San Diego wedding photographer, Kent West. The first is Jeff on his panel, "Creating a Client-Focused Business", and me during my shared presentation with Elizabeth Villa, Katie Humphreys, and Rachel LaCour, "Become a Content Marketing Machine". And yes, I was paying attention. I was just Instagramming. I may have an unhealthy addiction to Instagram...

Hugs,

Erin

So true right? The lovely Jan Cleveland, a photographer friend of ours from Milwaukee reminded me of this on Monday after Jeff and I just finished speaking at Pictage's PartnerCon at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, a conference for wedding and portrait photographers. Since we were getting to speak in our hometown - a rare treat for us since we're usually speaking while we're on the road - Jeff invited his mom to come watch us.

She was DELIGHTED to come be a part of her two 'kiddos' lives. And so were we.

At the beginning of the presentation, Jeff proudly introduced his mom to the crowd of photographers in the audience, and no sooner did he point her out, than she stood up with a fistful of our business cards, proudly waved them in the air and shouted, "I have their business cards here!!!"

Through the roars of laughter and applause at this shameless plug for her dear children, I have never loved my mother-in-law more than in this moment.

Not everyone gets to have a mom that is their biggest fan, and Mr. Jeff Youngren has only become his amazing, caring, confident, emotional, sensitive, successful self because of this bold love of his mother. I have her to thank for giving me the world in my husband.

(Jeff's mom took this photo on her little point and shoot camera during our presentation. I love that in a room full of professional photographers, she grabbed such a great photo.)

The next day, I gave another presentation called "Become a Content Marketing Machine" with Elizabeth Villa Ippolito, Katie Humphreys, and Rachel LaCour Niessen - the girls who run Pictage's blog called The Photo Life, to which I'm a regular contributor. Since he wasn't able to make it the day before, Jeff's dad came to watch my presentation, and he and Jeff sat in the front left corner of the room sending my nervous, voiceless self huge smiles and nods of encouragement.

Side Note: I lost my voice at Mike and Sarah's wedding in Philadelphia last Saturday, so for both presentations this week I had this hoarse, gravelly voice which stressed me out like crazy before both talks. If you ask Jeff, however, it was a sexy, husky, bedroom thang going on, so he didn't mind at all that I sounded like a broken foghorn most of the time and said that it made me look completely adorable up on stage.

Adorable in a dying cat kind of way maybe...

Anyhoo...

It was so special to have Jeff's dad rooting for me - literally - in my corner during that standing room only presentation that packed the room out. I don't know what I'd do without the unconditional support of my husband and my family.

Other highlights of the week at PartnerCon:

• Watching my hubby speak on a panel with four other amazing top photographers in front of the entire conference on how to run a client-focused business. And then having one of the photographers say into the microphone that Jeff is the nicest guy they have ever met. *Proud wifey*
• Getting dressed up in Lizzy's J.Crew wedding dress and Ipp's slick grey suit to model for Joe Bussink's shooting workshop, a Beverly Hills photographer that is one of the most talented wedding photographers in the country. Yep, Jeff wore a bow-tie and yep, it was awesome.

More to come...

Hugs,

Erin

My favorite Facebook comment on the photo thus far is from our buddy Mark Lenoce:

"Shooter - a new fragrance from J.Crew."

LOL.

Hugs,

Erin

Most Wednesdays are typical workdays for us (i.e. pure madness), but once a month Wednesdays mean something different. For the past four years, Jeff and I have been privileged to lead the San Diego Pictage Users Group, otherwise known as the PUG. You’ve probably seen us mention it a bunch on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and wonder why in the world we keep talking about dogs and showing pictures of people giving presentations – weird – but the PUG is actually a monthly get together of wedding and portrait photographers in the San Diego area. It’s a place for us photo peeps to learn about business, hone our craft, ask questions, build relationships, find support, and seek growth within a group of other professionals.

The PUG has been vital to the growth and success of our business because of the relationships we’ve been able to build with other photographers in our area. We’ve not only found business colleagues that we can learn from and lean on, but life friends that share in the same creative passion as us.

So every third Wednesday of the month, Jeff and I stop work around 2:00pm to gather and prep for the PUG, then we head down to Little Italy to meet up with our speaker for the night. We have been so lucky to have photographers and business people of a super-high caliber come to San Diego from all over the country every month for the past four years to speak to our group (Joe Bussink, Jasmine Star, Justin and Mary Marantz, Zach and Jody Gray, Kevin Swan, Dane Sanders, Rachel LaCour Niesen, Jason Aten, Jared Platt, Sara France, Jared Bauman, and Mike Larson just to name a few). Their invaluable expertise on everything from branding, marketing, shooting, SEO, pricing, web development, accounting, client experience, and everything in between has helped our group grow into a close-knit, thriving, forward-thinking community of businessmen and women.

We meet in a GORGEOUS studio in Little Italy and the night begins at 6:30pm with mingling, snacks, and wine (if Jeff and Erin Youngren are in charge, there’s always wine), our speaker talks until 8:30 or 9ish, and then we all head out for drinks and late night tacos after.

We’ve been known to stay out at the local bars until 1 or 2am.

Probably not your typical networking event. We’re a pretty awesome crowd.

If you’re a photographer in San Diego, join us at the PUG every third Wednesday of the month. You don’t need to be a Pictage member and all levels of business and experience are welcome. Here’s the details.

For photographers outside of San Diego, you can always be a part of the San Diego PUG virtually because we stream every meeting live over the interwebs - watch here.

Or join your local PUG. PUGs occur in over 60 cities all across the U.S., so find your closest group here and get connected with your photography community.

Hugs,
Erin

Whatever the answer may be, one of my favorite creatives is Ira Glass, the man behind This American Life, and he offers a much needed "Me Too" moment in the midst of a busy season.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Hugs,
Erin

I told you it’s taken much too long. All of our shoots are blogged waaaaaaaay quicker than this, so don’t judge.

I hear you judging.

Last month, we photographed Craig and Melissa’s cheery summer wedding in Chicago, and while we were there, we spoke at the Chicago PUG, the South Bend, Indiana PUG, and did a photography mentor session with the lovely Jennifer Anderson of J. Lynne Photography in South Bend.

The mentor session was all things rad.

Jennifer chose to do a shoot with us for her photography mentor session, which is always equally fun and pure madness. We’re teaching, we’re shooting, we’re laughing, we’re shooting, we’re teaching some more, and then shooting, shooting, shooting. Madness. But so much fun I could do it everyday.

Not only did we get to hang out with the cutest photographer EVER, the three of us got to photograph Neal and Ash, a couple who redefine adorable. We have so many similarities with these two it’s nuts – they’re celebrating their five-year anniversary this year, they have no kiddos, and they roll around downtown Chicago on a Vespa. And Neal wear's Sperry's. Seriously purrrrfect.

We shot down in the middle of the Financial District in Chicago - and since it was a weekend it was basically completely EMPTY! We seriously sat out in the middle of the street shooting this for a few minutes with only 1-2 cars passing by. Crazy.

LOVE!

Seriously though, how ADORABLE is Ash in her Anthro dress? Perfect outfit for the shoot girl!

I just love how Ash settles into Neal. Amazing.

The way he looks at her kind of makes me a little emotional. Who's with me?

So cute!

Gotta give the Sperry's their moment...

Probably favorite two shots from our whole time together! Mine is on the left, Jeff's is on the right.

Look how cute my hubby is! Yes, folks. He always has that boyish grin on his face when he's shooting. And I love it.

This is one of my favorite things that Jeff does during mentor sessions or shooting workshops - he stands alongside the photographer we're working with and talks them through everything they're doing. He calls it being their cheerleader, I call it awesome.

Neal and Ash: Thank you for your fabulous style and your incredible love for one another. We couldn't get enough of you guys! We feel so blessed to have gotten to meet you guys in Chicago, and we're so excited for what's next for you. Next time you're out in Cali, I've got two words for you : SCOOTER GANG!

Jennifer: We absolutely adore you - and we'll treasure the time we got to spend together in the windy city. Thank you for your excitement and passion for photography and your tireless joyfulness. You rock! We're cheering for you.

Hugs,

Erin

'Just talk about our story,' I kept thinking. 'The most important thing is our honesty.'

After I got off of the phone, I let out a huge sigh and Gracie shoved her face into mine, annoyed that I had been ignoring her for the past 30 minutes. I was sweating. Perfect.

Jeff and I were so honored to have our branding and packaging featured in the latest issue of Professional Photographer Magazine with a handful of other pretty awesome studios (including our pals Justin and Mary Marantz & Zach and Jody Gray!). This magazine is an industry staple - if you have a photography studio, it's a great resource to receive every month, so we were so excited to be a part of the May issue, if not completely nervous! But I love how the feature turned out - take a look!

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
FRESH PERSPECTIVE: JEFF AND ERIN YOUNGREN

It took a two-month tour of Asia for Jeff and Erin Youngren, of San Diego, to identify who they were as photographers and how they wanted to be perceived.

“Over 80-cent beers in Cambodia we were able to think and discover in a context that wasn’t our everyday context,” says Erin. “You have to be willing to dig into yourself, keep a journal, an idea box, and find the commonalities in all of that. But you also have to look outside yourself, objectively. That’s the hardest because you have to be willing to see all the good and the bad.”

The look and feel of the Youngrens’ Web presence was actually inspired by their packaging, which they admit is somewhat turned around. Erin had been packaging client gifts in crinkled brown paper bound with ribbon and tags, which an intern later translated into the studio’s blog design. For a distinctive logo, however, the Youngrens’ turned to an outside designer.

“Our photography was bright and fresh, clean and colorful,” says Erin. “We didn’t want a flower, but something fresh, like fruit. And it just came out. Our color is green, which made it a lime.”

For consistency, Erin takes the same approach in her blog posts. She diligently writes to a specific person and audience with each blog post. She also sets guidelines for herself about what she will and won’t write about, to keep her persona clear and strong. “I don’t write to the masses, but to my ideal reader,” she says. “You’ll find that you’re saying no to a lot of people, but you’re saying yes to your ideal client. It helps me focus everything and keep it all on one track.” The Youngrens’ blog is only the first update in their new branding, which will include a revamp of their website. Once the blog went live, they noticed an immediate uptick in visitors and referrals. “High-end vendors felt more comfortable sending clients to our blog and website,” she says. “We also noticed our clients using slightly different words to describe us, like ‘authentic,’ ‘emotional’ and ‘storytelling.’ But the biggest difference has been the vendor referrals, because they feel like we fit with their clients.”

Read the full article in the May 2011 issue of Professional Photographer Magazine

I learned how to navigate a flight of stairs while riding a very large rocking ship on rough winter seas. I also learned that the rough seas can land you at the bottom of the stairs in a restaurant line of old ladies at a moment's notice.

I learned how to pose with an empty picture frame for a couple's portrait. Well, to be more precise, THROUGH an empty picture frame.

I learned that taco buffets are the best way to snack, that fourth meal is the most important meal of the day, and that a leaning tower of soft serve can't be consumed in one bite.

I learned that skirts and a windy boat deck don’t mix. But hot tubs and a boat deck totally do.

I learned how to properly swing on a giant rope swing. I also learned how NOT to properly swing on a giant rope swing, and that my upper body strength doesn't exist.

I learned that one size does not fit all when it comes to Mexican wrestling masks, and the best breakfasts always come with a Cabo sunrise.

But most importantly, I learned that good friends make the best recap videos. Check out some more highlights from The Photog Retreat from Ginny Corbett, Michael & Michelle at Mahalo Photography, The Bui Brothers,  and Jennifer Sosa. Love these guys!

Hugs,
Erin

But the best part for Jeff and me was grabbing a cup of coffee and hanging out one on one during our mentor sessions with attendees. We get such a thrill out of hearing your personal stories, discovering your life goals, and figuring out how to make them happen over a free piece of cheesecake, lemon tart, and tomato soup (I'm telling you - serious eating issues...).

Mentor sessions with us are available on an ongoing basis here in San Diego for any photographer who would like us to take apart their business and put it back together again, so check out more details here.

We're also going to be in certain cities over the next few months and have set aside some dates for one on one mentor sessions during our travels:

SEATTLE: March 29th (Only one session available)

SAN FRANCISCO: April 26th - 29th

PHILADELPHIA: May 26 & 27th // November 3rd - 4th

CHICAGO: June 19th (full) & 20th

SAN JOSE: September 29th

CONTACT US HERE if you're interested. And just to sweeten the deal, I'll even provide a lemon tart...

Hugs,

Erin