In April, I attended Scott’s San Francisco Workshop and became one of Scott Robert‘s Lifetime Members.

Right after I signed up for the NYC Workshop, Scott Sent me a beautiful greeting card.

In May, Scott released the New York Workshop sign up.  I was hesitant, but after a little bit of encouragement, I signed up.  I knew I had nothing to lose and didn’t have anything tying me down – I’m young, not married, don’t have kids, have a great job, and some time off to spend.  Oh, and I also wanted to improve my photography imagery.  After signing up, I had a rush of emotions going through my head, and only knew this would be positive for my journey.

In September, the NYC workshop finally came!  Two additional San Francisco workshops took place in between May and September, so I felt I had a little bit more experience before I arrived.

Finally, I was in New York, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of. There I was, visiting for the second time, the city that sparkles so bright where some people made it big, and others, not so much.  Why was I there?  Well, of course, to go to Scott’s Workshop.  But why?

At the beginning of the trip, I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly why I was there.  While independent, on a mission to find something, and still riding a journey, I knew I had a week ahead of me to find something.  Or did I?

My first few days were spent having fun in New York with my friends, Paul (best friend from USF), Zabrina, Jeremy, Jeremy’s cousin, and Dorcas.  We all ate, shopped, ate, saw things, oh, and did I mention, we ate?  What made it even more remarkable, is we were on the streets of NYC on 9-11.

We saw the twin beams of light tributing to where the World Trade Center was. It was their 5th year displaying the twin beams to celebrate the anniversary of when it was attacked.

It was time to start the workshop a few days after.  We walked into the lobby of the Ravel Hotel, where we stayed for the duration of the workshop, and instantaneously, it was so great to see Scott!  He truly is a remarkable person, and I’m ever-so-thankful to have him as my mentor.  After chatting with Scott, I met the other students that came to the same workshop.  About half of the students, more or less, came from Texas School, all beautiful moms (and a few fathers too)!

Some of Scott’s successful Mentees also came to help and support Scott on his fantastic week:

• Marie Lyssa Doremus (Montreal, Canada) – Marie Lyssa Studio
• Tauran Woo (Worldwide & Southern California) – Tauran Photography
• Junshien Lau (Based out of the Bay Area) – Junshien International Photographers
• Gurm Sohal (Vancouver, Canada) – Gurm Sohal Photography

All of his mentees are fantastic people – all of which have their own special journeys.

After settling in, we had lunch, then had lecture in Tom & Deb’s building, near the Ravel Hotel in Queens.  We shot briefly, then had to break and move up to Tom & Deb’s home.  Tom and Deb (really great friends of Scott) are wonderful people – they made dinner for us that evening, and welcomed all of us into their home – Thank you!

During these next few days, Scott lectured in the morning, and we captured imagery in the afternoon.  I learned more about off camera light, posing, and used the tools I learned to capture some fantastic imagery during this workshop.

All things set aside, Scott’s one week workshop was different from the one day workshops I have attended.  Why?  Words aren’t enough to describe what’s really different, or can it?  As a disclaimer, I suppose I can try to explain it, but a reader may not be able to capture the cultivation, absorb the emotion, feel the warmth and hope that gets poured into the workshop.  That, put together, is why I came to NYC, to experience it.

Before I get into the juicer details, let me start off with the juicy.  Scott did something new in NYC, he let his mentees speak – Junshien Lau, Tauran Woo, and Marie Lyssa Doremus.  All three were Scott’s mentees, and became very successful ones too.

Junshien Lau told us to “Dream Big”.  Some of the most memorable things was he told us that every great success and enterprise was real in somebody before it became tangible.  Optomistic people feel things will get better, despite all the bad things that happen everywhere else in the world.  You won’t be a dream maker until you stop the dream takers in your life.

Tauran Woo showed us his incredible work… All beautiful and breathtaking images that blew me away (even more than just reading his blog, because this time, he described each image and why he did it!).  From the times I’ve learned and conversed with Master Tauran, he has always provided great feedback, and if there’s one thing that I’ve learned from him, is that he’s always learning and trying something new.  His craft and imagery is remarkable, a mastery at his own art.  I can honestly say, I truly respect and admire Tauran’s work.

Marie Lyssa Doremus became successful in the shortest amount of time.  Her journey is beautiful, because she was yearning for fulfillment, and she saw the light by taking risks from her low hanging fruits.  Suggests to all have a muse, and abides by Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule, from the book, “Outliers”.  Lyssa takes on different projects that changes what she does on a normal day-to-day wedding photographer.  She’s different, and incredible.

By seeing Scott’s three successful mentees speak, proved to me that our aspirations, dreams, and passions can come true.  Scott’s came true.  Junshien, Tauran, Marie, as well as Gurm’s came true too.  Scott’s other mentees’ dreams came true too.  Incredible.  Well, we were all in a concrete jungle for another day or two, they reached their dream, and Scott told us he can help us reach ours, only if we wanted it.  What next?

Scott was devoted to all of us while shooting.  In addition to that, he set aside time for each of us to meet and talk about anything.  Initially, I wanted to show Scott my imagery from the week and have him critique it, but I thought, why?  We’re thousands of miles away from home, and I could literally drive 500 miles or take a 1 hour plane ride to ask for Scott’s thoughts… better off, they invented technology for a reason!  Mixed with so many emotions from the entire week, I was finally happy to sit down with Scott, and tell him everything that I’m feeling.

I started this journey for a reason, for it is my passion.  It has been always been part of me, and my friends and family know it.  What’s next?…

And there it went, bottled up emotions, joys, frustrations, my past, the present, my wants, goals, life story… everything, let go.  Deeper answers to all my questions of “why” started to conclude before the hypothesis could even formulate.  I was mending, and transforming without even knowing it.  It felt great because I knew I was ten steps farther in the direction I wanted to go in.  Fueled with more motivation, direction, and hope, I knew right then and there, the fire for my photography was bigger than ever before.  I found something.

I knew that I can’t do it all by myself, but I knew, I will conquer my journey to extraordinary it if I want it.

‎”Your hopes and dreams are a rough draft of a better you.” – Scott Robert Lim

We spent the rest of the evening having dinner, and partied all night.  Some of us shot each other, and the rest just hung out.  It was a fun evening, a great closure to our  week.

The morning after, we all sat in Tom & Deb’s home to say goodbye to each other, and Scott had so many thank you’s for all of us.  He, too, has his own story, which is touching and unique, and shared it with us.  You can read it here.  As we all sat listening to Scott, I thanked myself for choosing to attend.

So there it is.  NYC.

I came home with such motivation, but such little time for me to do what I wanted to do, my photography.  Actually, I did manage to fit a one day workshop in between!  Other than that, I spent my two weeks after NYC with my closest family and friends, each and every day, whether it was 5 minutes, or a few hours.  I’m very thankful to have each and every one of them in my life, and more than thankful for supporting me.

Thank you everyone who attended the New York Workshop.  You all have a dear place in my heart.  Thank you leaders (Tauran, Lyssa, Junshien, and Gurm) for taking time out of your busy schedules, thank you ZABRINA and JEREMY for putting together another fantastic workshop!  Best of all, THANK you SCOTT for EVERYTHING.

To all my friends, family, and everyone else, thank you for your undivided support and believing in me.  To all my future clients, I hope to work with you all soon!

Love,

Michelle

Where Am I?

After I got back from NYC and a few weeks later, I flew over to Manila, Philippines on October 4th, and have been here for almost three weeks… (update to come soon!)  By the end of this week, I will be packing my bags and going on vacation again to Hong Kong and China starting October 22nd.  During that time…

I will be attending SR x CM – Discovery Journey to China Workshop hosted by Scott Robert Lim and CM Leung!

• Manila:  October 4th – 22nd
• Hong Kong:  October 22nd – 24th
• China!  Shanghai:  October 24th – 27th; Beijing:  October 27th – November 1st
• Hong Kong: November 1st – November 3rd

P.S.  Here’s my most awesome and favorite shot from NYC of Miss Kate:

And I can’t forget a fun picture of the trip: