Meet Amanda Gilbert. She is the whimsical mastermind behind Untamed Petals. I had the pleasure of photographing her vintage inspired accessories in Emily’s Bay Area wedding back in October. She designed hair pieces for all of Emily’s bridesmaids as well as participated in the wedding as a bridesmaid herself. I have been excited to feature her work ever since! I recently hosted a photography workshop in which the models, including my wife, also rocked a couple of her pieces.
Fall in Love Workshop {January 30th San Luis Obispo}
I’m still floating a bit from the amazing time I had with everyone at the Fall in Love Workshop this past weekend! I’m humbled and honored that people would fly across the country and world to spend a couple of days allowing me to teach about my passion for wedding photography. It’s true that I could talk for days about what I do because I love it that much.
This wasn’t just a photography-nerd-shop. It was a retreat, it was a party, it was a vacation, it was a time of introspection, inspiration and redefinition.
We hosted the workshop in my hometown. I really wanted people to get immersed in the natural beauty and peacefulness of San Luis Obispo. People came from as far as Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, Michigan, and even Italy! Flying Caballos Ranch was the perfect venue! It’s this amazing century old 5 bedroom Victorian ranch house in the middle of a grassy meadow. The moment we all stepped onto the property we felt like we had been transported to another time.
World Class wedding photographer Jose Villa joined us to teach and share. Having him was the icing on the cake! He is such an incredibly talented photographer and a phenomenal teacher. He demonstrated some in door portrait photography with Asher and Anna and then taught about how he directs couples during our engagement shoot.
Brynn and Daniel were kind enough to model for us and were amazing in front of the camera; all 14 of them! Seriously, a big thanks to them for being so full of energy and love. It’s a crazy thing to have that many people photograph you for over an hour, but they handled it like pros. We are all excited for your wedding and wish we could all be there. ;)
Loads of friends and sponsors came together to support the success of the workshop. My assistant Alex Creswell was an amazing help; we couldn’t have done it without her. Amanda lent us some of her hand made vintage inspired accessories from Untamed Petals. Sunnie Brook from Married on a Monday rocked the hair and make-up department stunningly as usual! Adornments supplied the lovely flowers and bouquet. Mama’s Meatball catered and kept us fed and happy with the communal flavors of Italy. Andrew Barefoot from Cana VP shot a rad little video which you have to see at the end of this post!
I got an amazing response from one of the students just a couple days after the workshop. Amazing that this weekend was a life changing experience!
"What happened this weekend was something past inspiration for us. It was more like teleportation to a different planet that we loved. Thank you so much for putting yourself out there for us and for providing the conduit for the Lord to work so powerfully and in such a life changing way.” -Lloyd Baggs
Jose demonstrating the beauty of shooting in window light.
Together we photographed a real engaged couple. A big part of what we shared was how to connect with couples and help them become comfortable in front of the camera and especially the photographer. Watch this to get a glimpse into all of the fun!
We are already planning our next workshop for April. We have another amazing surprise guest speaker! I should be announcing all of the details within the week. Email us to sign up on the waiting list! fallinlove@cameroningalls.com
Emily and Meeko had their beautiful San Francisco bayside wedding in the Old St. Hillarys Church on a Tiburon hilltop. Emily is a graphic designer, owns an Etsy shop called Frenchie & Flea and because of her profuse skills everything about her wedding had her talent laden fingerprints all over it. One of her bridesmaids hand made all of the hairpieces and also has a Etsy shop called Untamed Petals. Working with the bridesmaids felt like an Anthropology catalogue photo shoot.
Basically it was an out-of-control day filled with love and beauty. I took gobs of pictures and I want to show you all of them, but you will have to settle with just some of my favorites. ;)
My friend Josh brought the video-madness! Check it his full post at The Rain Studios Blog.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Meet Amanda Gilbert. She is the whimsical mastermind behind Untamed Petals. I had the pleasure of photographing her vintage inspired accessories in Emily’s Bay Area wedding back in October. She designed hair pieces for all of Emily’s bridesmaids as well as participated in the wedding as a bridesmaid herself. I have been excited to feature her work ever since! I recently hosted a photography workshop in which the models, including my wife, also rocked a couple of her pieces. 
