CONFIDENCE WINNER!

If you've been following this blog for long enough, than you already know that I'm a big Me Ra Koh fan.  I have been following Me Ra Koh's Photography blog for about 3 years now.  And I've applied for the SOAR! Scholarship twice.  Oh, and I've watched her segments on The Nate Berkus Show.  Early last year, I had the privilege of meeting Me Ra Koh at the Private Garden Party that she hosted in Las Vegas.

Soon after meeting Me Ra Koh, her book, "Your Baby in Pictures," arrived in my mailbox.  The book is SO great for parents who want to capture their baby's first year in photos.  The book gives step by step instructions for capturing 40 creative milestone photos for both point and shoot and DSLR cameras.  Late last summer, Me Ra posted some photos on her blog that people had emailed her.  The inspiration for each photos was one of her photo recipes.  MY PHOTO was one of them!

 Inspired by Photo Recipe #24 “Flexibility You Would Die For”- (K @ 9 months)

That blog post kicked off Me Ra's idea to hold a photo contest.  Me Ra Koh invited women to post on her Facebook page all forty, yes FORTY, of their photo recipe results from her book!  The prize…FIVE winners would get 50% OFF the Early Bird price to attend one of her CONFIDENCE Workshops.  The first five women to complete this challenge won.  When I first read this, I thought this is the most perfect contest for me.  Most of K's first year had been carefully photographed by me. So I painstakingly went through my super unorganized photo files gathering K's photos into a new folder.  Surprisingly, I already had 34 photos that would work for Me Ra's photo contest.  I knew that other ladies out there were furiously gathering their photos as well to be a winner of the contest.  Getting the last 6 photos was crazy fun.  I called up a neighbor and she agreed to let me take a few photos of her baby.  Then, I went across the street to my neighbor's house unannounced (around 8:30pm) to see if their baby was awake and if I could could take a sunset silhouette shot of their baby in their backyard.  What great neighbors I have.  I stayed up late posting all the photos onto Me Ra's Facebook page.  By the end of the next day, I got word that I was one of the five lucky WINNERS!  Oh wow!  I just couldn't stop smiling!  Two of my pictures were featured on her blog!

Inspired by Photo Recipe #33, “Everyday Settings to Remember” - (K @ 9 months playing in her room)

Inspired by Photo Recipe #36, “Flying Cherub Silhouette” - (a BIG thanks to baby Sawyer for being my model)

I had been wanting to attend Me Ra Koh's CONFIDENCE Workshop for a couple of years but I couldn't justify paying so much money to attend on top of the airline and hotel fees.  But with winning this contest, I could totally save up and go!  For the next couple months, I kept an eye on the cities that Me Ra was coming to for the workshops.  When I saw Orange County/Los Angeles listed for March 2012, I got excited.  I could go and visit some of my dad's side of the family AND finally see the ocean for the first time!  Oh yeah, AND I could finally attend the CONFIDENCE Workshop!  S approved and I signed myself up way back in October.