Category Archives: Workshops

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Workshop II highlights + Workshop I photos

October 10, 2008 – 9:17 pm

Sorry this is so late coming! But if you have been following my blog this week you understand why. :-)

So last weekend was Cowbelly Workshop II. Just like the first one, folks flew in from different parts of the country to my studio near the waterfront in Seattle, we squeezed the learning/teaching into 3 long days, we had doggie models and did photography on location with a client, we ate yummy food, we talked, we drank a lot of coffee, we ate a lot of candy, we shared, we exchanged ideas, and we learned. A LOT! (even me!)

I was even more intense with this workshop, being a bit of a drill sargeant at times, not wanting to miss, or forget anything. Like the last time, I lost my voice, and went home feeling tired and exhilarated at the same time. 

Here is a funny but true story. During dinner and drinks on the final night it came up that none of the gals had received the final email I sent early the week of the workshop. It contained all of the final updates and schedule changes and requested flight numbers and cell phone numbers from each of them. I remember thinking at the time that it was odd that I didn’t hear back from a single person on that email, although I did get a couple of emails saying “I’m excited, looking forward to meeting you!”. So after the workshop I look on my computer, and I discover that I did indeed send that last email. To myself. LOL. 

I really wanted to take more pictures at this workshop, and tried to, but I have learned that it is almost impossible for me to teach, and listen and photograph all at the same time, with the exception of the actual photography portion of the weekend. 

But, I will share with you the few shots that I took, and also more from Workshop I that were taken by, and so graciously sent to me, by some of the attendees. 

This reminds me of a 90’s Calvin Klein ad. 

This is funny. I had been downing coffee and red bull like it was water. I wanted to take some photos of the flowers we put on each table, but my hands were shaking so hard this was the best I could do. I needed a tripod. 

Charlie and Seymour, who are practically Cowbelly mascots now second to Fergie. 

I love these shots of Seymour! I swear I could photograph this boy all day. I love you Seymour!!

And with that Charlie is done with his model obligations, and takes off to find his next adventure, hee hee. 

check out the TEETH! wheee….

A few of the attendees listening to Nichole Smith of Dane + Dane photography. I have no idea what they were talking about here- this is when I was trying to take my shaky-hands flower shots. 

I am so sorry I didn’t get a group photo! Jim even told me how to take it with the ginormous photo stand thingy that I swear was two stories tall, but I completely flaked! sniff….

Ah well, I had such a great time with all of the gals I can’t possibly forget what they all look like! A sincere thank you to everyone for coming. :-)

Ali and Jill I am mailing your resource CDs tomorrow!

Below are some shots from Workshop I, courtesy of:

Tracy Aukerman

Bev Hollis

Angie Wojciechowska

Jaime Rowe

Thanks gals! I promise to introduce everyone from both workshops when they are ready for me to share them with the world! 

Me holding Diza. Did I ever mention how much I love her pink studded collar??

Ah yes, a pug and a fisheye, naturals together. c/o Bev Hollis??

Yep, that’s me below. I love this shot. Who took it? And was it a 2.8 or a 4.0? hee hee, woohoo

The lovely and talented Jaime Rowe. 

Me below. I look like a deer caught in the headlights, lol. 

Someone else’s gorgeous photo of one of our gorgeous flower arrangements. Someone who wasn’t drinking as much coffee as me. 

I LOVE these shots of the Fergs! How cute is she?? Tracy, are these your shots??

Y’all probably noticed the flaming hot pink tablecloths. It was a funny conversation with the guy at the rentals place. He had become totally enamored with my business the day before after seeing the link to my website in my email. So he had a pretty good idea of what I was like when I called. On the phone I asked for tablecloths, and he said “what color?” and I said “oh I don’t know- white?” and he said “no, you don’t want white”. Totally matter of factly (love that). “ok, what color should I get?”. He said “well, what do you like- we have pretty much every color of the rainbow”. “hmm, how about blue? no wait, maybe a sunny yellow? No, pink! I love pink”. And he said “ok, what shade of pink? We have light pink, medium pink, and hot pink”. I thought about it for a second and although my favorite color is pale pink I blurted “hot pink!!”. Without hesitation he said “Ok, hot pink it is”. It turned out looking awesome. :-)

Boy has the weather changed in a few short weeks. 

That’s a sandwich in that paper package folks. Christina brought Fergie down to visit us when she brought our lunches to the park (boy were we spoiled!), and Fergie had only one thing on her mind. My tuna, hee hee. 

Wow, we all look so sullen! So funny because we had a blast that day!

Let me tell you guys, it’s hard for anyone to take you seriously when your dog is peeking her head out from under the tablecloth in front of your legs. I couldn’t figure out why everyone was laughing. Here is the reason. 

Awww, look at the Ferginator being cute. Is is me or is she really really cute? I know I am biased but really….

And some tear-jerking comments (at least to me!) from a few of the attendees from last weekend:

“I had a great time at the workshop this weekend.  I learned a ton of new things and relearned some things I had been taught back in school.  Overall, it was a great experience. ”- Ali

“Thanks for putting yourself out there and for the information you shared.  I have been doing a lot of thinking and I feel good that I am heading in the right direction, … the information on business, marketing and having Brandi and Nicole there was just awesome too.  I am excited and plan to work hard on taking it to the next level.” -Pam

“Thank you SO much for all the information you gave us during the workshop.  It was tremendously valuable!” -Gail

And this was shamelessly stolen from Debbie’s blog:

“Last weekend I attended an awesome workshop in Seattle, given by the infamous Jamie Pflughoeft of Cowbelly Pet Photography!  Along with a group of very talented women photographers, I spent three very long and intense days focussing on all aspects of a pet photography business.  I could not even begin to describe all of the information that I came home with.  I am definitely going to have a busy fall sorting through all of this, but I do look forward to the challenge!” -Debbie

Oh! Before I forget, this past weekend I had two amazing guest speakers at the workshop- both women you should be familiar with by now. 

One was the superstar magazine editor Brandie Ahlgren of CityDog Magazine, and the other was my dear friend and talented pet photographer Nichole Smith of Seattle’s own Dane + Dane Studios. I cannot tell you how much I loved having both women there, and how much they both contributed to ‘the conversation’. I learned from both, and was thrilled to hear them echo the same points I was trying to drive home. The fact that they both took time out of their busy schedules to come and co-teach with me for a little while (Nichole had to run off to meet a wedding client afterward, and Brandie left to go prep for FidoFest), was such a treat. Sandy I am SO sorry Nichole wasn’t here when you were here- hopefully your paths will cross at some point!

Onto future workshops stuff:

I have been getting a lot of emails lately about 2009 workshops (those are some of the 97!), and each and every person who has expressed interest goes on my little excel spreadsheet. Please know that if you have contacted me I have immediately added you to the interest list, even if I haven’t been able to respond right away. Next year I am planning on hiring a temporary part-time project manager who has experience in event planning. He/she will take over the duties of planning and organizing and scheduling both the workshops and the attendees, so that I can focus on doing work for my clients here in Seattle before and between each city. This will enable me to run my business as normal, and then be ready for the workshops when the time comes! And also enable me to schedule shoots with clients in the cities I travel to.

Expect an entirely new workshops website to be launched sometime before years-end, complete with workshop photographs and testimonials, and more information on 2009 dates. I don’t expect to have next year’s dates set in stone until January, because, uh, I have plenty of stuff to do between now and then, lol, but I will do my very best to give everyone adequate notice to plan for it if they are interested in attending. 

Lastly, there will be a couple of changes for the 2009 workshops. 

Some of you may have noted on my workshops website on the registration page that I am now ’screening’ potential attendees.

Here is what this means. The last thing I want to do is talk someone into coming, OR have someone come that the workshops aren’t 100% right for. 

Attending one of my workshops takes a great amount of time, and trust, and money, and I want to be absolutely sure it is worth every single person’s time. I am not doing this for fame or fortune or to become the next ‘big thing’ in the photography community, I am doing it because I truly deeply want to help people chase their dreams and find success doing so. I want people to want it as badly for themselves as I do for them. 

There are a few gals who attended my workshops this fall who may giggle reading this. With each one of them I actually tried to talk them out of coming, because I wasn’t sure I had enough to offer them (they each had been running photography businesses for 2-8 years, and already had a solid client base). They each listened to me, took my resistance, and decided to come anyway. The sweetest thing for me to hear is that they each got so much out of it, and felt that it was totally worth coming even though they were more advanced in their businesses.

SO, you see, I really do have everyone’s best interests at heart. If I feel someone isn’t ready, or I can’t give them enough of what they need, I will be the first to say so. So if you are interested in attending a workshop next year, please tell me about yourself and your situation and what your goals are for the future. I will then take that information, and let you know if I think this is perfect for you, or if I think you should wait (I did this on two occasions with folks I hope to work with next year, but were not in the best place this year), or tell you to perhaps take up weather reporting or something instead, hee hee. 

Thanks to everyone who came this year, and I can’t wait to watch your businesses thrive and grow, and to the people who will be attending next year- I can’t wait to meet you! :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Also posted in Pugs! | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (10)

2009 Workshops update!!

September 26, 2008 – 12:29 pm

I have been spending the morning crossing my t’s and dotting my i’s in final preparations for Workshop II next weekend, and have updated my little excel spreadsheet with names and cities for 2009 Workshops. If you have sent me an email requesting 2009 locations and I haven’t replied yet, I will be doing that today!

2009 workshops are now called the Cowbelly Traveling Roadshow (thanks for the name Wendy!) and I have a list of target cities that I have been compiling over the past few months based on demand. As of the last two weeks I now have a very good idea of what the upcoming year looks like but am still totally open to input! I am about 85% sure of the cities, but can be swayed to go in different directions, by YOU my lovely blog followers.

If you are interested in attending the Traveling Roadshow next year, please check out the newly updated workshops page of this blog for the target cities list and dates, and then send me an email to say “yes, come to my city!” or “no! come here instead!”. I am taking ALL requests into consideration and listening to every single request I receive. I am here for the people! :-)

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Workshop I highlights

September 19, 2008 – 12:40 am

First off- I am still alive!! Tired in body, but very happy and energized in mind. 

In composing this post I have had a hard time knowing what to say.  I know I can never come up with the perfect description of what this past weekend was like, but here is what I CAN say: the inaugural Cowbelly Pet Photography Workshop I was all of these things: intense, exhilarating, exhausting, challenging, super fun, intellectually stimulating, laugh-out-loud hilarious, sad at times, frustrating (don’t even ask me about the projector issue), thought-provoking (boy was it ever!), and in a word: awesome. I have been abuzz with ideas and filled with happiness since Sunday, so much so that sleeping has been difficult! From what I read in the emails going around since the workshop, I am not the only one. 

I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to teach such an amazing group of women who flew in from all over the US and Canada to place their hopes and dreams in me and listen to what I had to share with them. I had never realized or considered before that I would have a ready-made group of friends following the workshop, or that they would all form fast friendships with each other. How did I ever get so lucky? :-)

Without further adieu, here are a few highlights from Workshop I last weekend.

Saturday was my favorite day. Why? Because we had a pug party!! 

The stars of the show were: Diza, Frank the one-eyed pug (Oh Frank), Barolo, and Walter. Diza- below left- in a position I won’t normally shoot dogs in, but I couldn’t resist. I mean, look at that face! I like the one on the right below, because even though Diza’s face is blurry, you can see the gals with their cameras behind her. 

Walter. This sweet boy has one of those faces that you would recognize anywhere. How cute is he?

I’m loving all of the smiles! We were shooting at high noon in part shade/part sun, which is the very worst time and place to photograph moving subjects, but it was because I made an executive decision that most of the shoot would take place in the shade because our models have short noses and therefore do not have very good internal air-conditioning systems. It was so HOT that day (85 degrees?)- I am still getting over my sunburn. Oh- and look at the little non-pugs below! We were attracting a veritable plethora of pooches. :-)

Frank, the one-eyed pug. Apparently I have been living under a rock because Frank is famous and I didn’t even know! Oh Frank, you are so handsome. Frank has his own blog that you simply must check out. 

Frank even has stickers! I have several in my office. I love them so much I am hoarding them. And no you can’t have them. You will have to go to his blog and ask for them. Neener-neener. 

Frank even has his own bicycle carrier and helmet (check out his blog to see his helmet). I think Frank is the hippest pug in town. (I still love you Charlie and Seymour, but come on- Frank has his own blog and his own bike carrier AND helmet!). 

Tell me that isn’t the coolest thing ever. :-)

Walter, in his mother’s arms. And yes, he is just as ridiculously adorable in person. 

The pugs attracted quite a bit of attention that day at the park and had people stopping in their tracks. Hey, when you are in the company of a famous pug, there are bound to be pugarrazi nearby! (sorry, I had to, hee hee)

My favorite shots from the day below. (I told you they were fantastic models!). I only wish I had had time to pull my flash or reflector out. I don’t think I have ever been so distracted shooting dogs! From left to right: Walter, Diza and Frank. I didn’t get any shots of darling Barolo! Did anyone else?

I was determined to get some shots of Diza and the beautiful polka dotted bowl, but lunch arrived, and I had about 2 shots to get what I was aiming for. I think this will have to be a follow-up shot. Whose bowl was this? Can I borrow it??

Holy pug tongue!

The stars of the show. 

I refused to leave there without at least one shot of Diza’s pink studded punk rock fabulousness. I wish I could get Fergie to wear a necklace like that. 

And last but not least, the amazing, fabulous, warm-hearted, generous, talented, INCREDIBLE group of gals at Workshop I. I love you all! FYI: that’s me center back with the black shirt and big smile. We originally had 14 scheduled, but one had something come up with work, and the other was under 2 feet of water in Florida in the midst of Hurricane Ike! (ah yes, excuses, excuses). They will both be joining me for the October workshop.

Here are some comments I have pulled from a few of the workshop attendees emails this week:

“I have learned so much this weekend….. Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. I feel much stronger than I did before I left for Seattle, I got the focus that I need.”- Angie W.

“Jamie - thank you for putting your self and your work out there for all of us to learn from.. You have worked so incredibly hard, developed a beautiful business that clearly energizes you. It would be easy to keep that to yourself and prosper.  By sharing with others I know you realize it will only come back to you tenfold.” -Bev H. 

“Jamie, Can’t thank you enough….your course was as wonderful and exciting as I had hoped, thanks for such an opportunity!” -Maria C.

” Jamie, I have thought so much about the courage and resourcefulness and dedication it has taken for you to develop and offer this workshop.  I am so inspired by your devotion to helping others, particularly women, be successful in this unique and fun field we have chosen. You are an amazing woman and I feel so fortunate that I was able to attend your very first workshop.  I learned so much from you and the other women - I don’t think all of it has really sunk in yet… I’m still processing.” -Jeanne H.

“Jamie, you are an amazing person, and I know that you exhausted yourself this weekend, thank you!”- April W.

“More accolades for the workshop!! I learned so much and now my brain is flying in all directions trying to figure out everything I need to do to be ready.  I hate being stuck at work when I want to be at home getting my website and blog all purtied up! Jamie, you did a fabulous job and gave us all something we will thank you for forever!” -Tracy A.

“Jamie - I can’t thank you enough!  The wheels are still turning trying to put together all the useful info I got from the workshop.  You’re a truly selfless woman to share all your tips and tricks to becoming successful!  I haven’t stopped talking about you and the workshop to all my friends and family back here.  I think they’re getting sick of me!” -Keriann K.

“Thank you so much for the rockin weekend! Jamie you are amazing in everything that you do!” -Jaime R.

Oh my god I am so not worthy of these comments.

I’d like to give a huge shout out to the people involved with the workshop- either directly or indirectly. A giant thank you to: all of the folks who helped me with the planning stage during the first quarter of the year: the lawyers and professors at the CDEC,  Jeff and Laura, the mentors and contract writers including the contract writer for Boeing who approved all of my contracts (planning a workshop takes a village!); my tireless assistant Christina for everything that she did over the course of 4 days- (none of it went unnoticed!), Glazer’s for saving me when the projector I rented from the ‘other’ company decided not to work (grrrr), The Baguette Box in Fremont for supplying us with such deliciously yummy food and making an exception to their ‘no weekends’ rule, (oh, and for having a dog in their logo!), to the amazing people at Olympic Reprographics for filling my order at the last minute when their competitor totally flaked on me (thank you Ian!!), to my dad for making those last-minute desperate phone calls to U-Haul to try and get us a van, to the super awesome lovely Starbucks employees in my ‘hood who made my life so much easier every morning, to Jeremy for guest speaking on the lighting portion, to Brandie for sharing all of her industry knowledge with us, to the puggy model parents for showing up at the last minute and for being so patient with all of us shooting their dogs, to the pug models for being total naturals in front of the camera, to the gals who helped me clean and tear down on Sunday night before dinner, to the photographers at the studio- Rocky, Mike, Jim and Howard- for giving me the opportunity to teach my workshops there, and last but not least to Keriann, Beth and Stephanie for indulging my tastes in champagne on Sunday night- I had a blast with you guys!!

I will post links to all of the gals’ websites from Workshop I, and of course add them to my blogroll, but want to give them a chance to get all gussied up and ready before I show them off. I think they are going to knock your socks off, truly. Some of these gals’ work puts mine to shame!

I am very much looking forward to meeting the next group at workshop II, which is in a short 2 weeks. 

Then it will be at least 6 months before the next workshop (I need some time to recover folks), which WON’T be in Seattle. All of the 2009 workshops will be in other cities- in fact, it’s now unofficially being called the ‘Cowbelly Traveling Roadshow’ (thanks for the name Wendy!). I am already about 85% sure of the cities on the 2009 target list, but still, if you’d like me to come to your town, be sure to send me an email and let me know! I am saving each email and adding each person’s name and city to my little excel spreadsheet. I have zero idea of dates yet, and know it will take a massive amount of work to make happen, and I will also have a MINIMUM enrollment per city, so if you are interested, and/or know anyone who may be please don’t hesitate to contact me.

This week and next I am catching up on proofing clients + designing new art + blog posts and have a ton of new images to share with y’all so stay tuned for that. I will also have a tiny announcement following workshop II that a few of you may find intriguing. 

OH, and before I forget: a few important workshop II updates:

I still have 4 (?) spaces left for the workshop and it’s certainly not too late to register! We are now having dinner on Saturday night instead of Sunday night, so if you’d need to leave to head home to return to work Monday morning that is totally doable- we’ll finish by 6pm-ish. We will be having portfolio review Sunday morning instead. Everything else is the same. Don’t know if the pugs will be there but I’ll have to ask! Ah, I can’t wait. 

Life is good and it just keeps getting better. :-)

Hope everyone is having a terrific week!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (22)

Workshop I (September) update: 2 last-minute openings

September 2, 2008 – 6:49 pm

I have two last-minute openings for the September workshop, which is the 12th-14th (yes, that’s NEXT week!). I have contacted the folks on my waiting list, many of whom are now registering for the October workshop. I have a call out to 2 possible additional attendees for the September date but don’t know if they will be able to swing it, so I am posting it here: there are, **as of this writing**, TWO open spaces in the September workshop. If you are interested please contact me ASAP!

The October workshop is filling fast just as of the last two weeks, so if you are thinking about that date, get in touch very soon. 

Also, I DO definitely plan on holding workshops in 2009, but have yet to determine where and when. They will most likely all be travel workshops, held in different major metropolitan areas around the US (and possibly Canada). I am compiling a list of requested cities, so if you are interested in me taking the show on the road to your town next year please send me an email and let me know a little bit about yourself, why you want to get into pet photography and where you live. 

Thanks so much!

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , | Comments (10)

Workshops update

August 5, 2008 – 11:21 pm

I have been a busy, busy bee today catching up with workshop registrants and interested parties.

There have been a couple of important changes made to the workshops schedule.

The October workshop is now open to start-up photographers and has been expanded to 3 days. 

It carries the exact same itinerary as the September workshop. Details here:

http://www.cowbellyworkshops.com/dates.html

Those who are on the waiting list for the September workshop have first dibs on the spaces in the October workshop.

Also, to answer a couple of frequently asked questions: workshops are NOT open to people who live and/or work in Western Washington. This is covered under the workshop Terms and Conditions and no changes will be made to the terms and conditions under any circumstances. The workshops are also designed for those who are looking for a career as a professional pet photographer as opposed to doing it solely as a hobby. The workshops schedule cannot be modified to fit any one individual’s preferences. Trust me when I say A LOT of careful planning has gone into the workshops- down to every last detail. :-)

Lastly, I am compiling the list of target cities for 2009, so if you are interested in having me come to your city, please drop me a line and let me know and I will put you on my list. If I get enough demand in any one place I will consider it for a future workshop. 

I am really excited about the workshops and have an incredible group of people registered. Looking VERY forward to it! 

By Jamie 'Cowbelly' | Tagged , | Comments (2)