You know how doctors make the worst patients? Well, I have a feeling that photographers might make the worst models. I always joke that my husband takes terrible pictures of me, and that I wind up "looking like a donkey" in his photos, but I'm sure that a lot of it has to do with the fact that I feel VERY self-conscious when I have a camera in my face. Which is why it's the photographer's job to make her clients feel as comfortable as possible during a photo session, so that you get those nice, relaxed shots. This, of course, is ESPECIALLY important for lifestyle shots. Nobody wants to get their photos back and realize that they've put on Robot Face for all of their shots. Obviously, if that happens, it's a reflection on the photographer for her inability to put you at ease.

So, where am I going with this? Well, yesterday, I was the one behind the camera, as my family and I had the AMAZING privilege of being one of the "model families" for Michele Anderson's PinkleToes Photography workshop in Toronto. How big of a deal is this, you might ask? Well, kind of a HUGE deal, because Michele is an amazing photographer and a genuinely lovely person to be around. I have admired Michele's work from afar for a couple of years now, and in June, I had a chance to attend her Charlotte workshop. During said workshop she asked if my family wanted to be one of their workshop models. Um...HELL YEAH!!!

As I've said before, I feel REALLY self-conscious when photos are taken of me. My hubby and daughter are used to having me stick my various cameras in their faces, so they probably weren't as daunted. And while I was SUPER-excited to have our family photos updated, having 12 photographers in your house is kind of overwhelming. Fortunately, Michele is a pro, the workshop ladies were wonderful, and we were all right at ease! In case you're wondering what it's like to have 12 photographers at your house, consider the scene outside my house on Friday:

One of the things that was great about the session is just how well Michele worked with my daughter. My daughter is a TOTAL HAM, LOVES attention, and LOVES having photos taken of her (I'm sure that I've contributed to this). If you're wondering just how much of a ham my daughter is, consider Exhibit A, taken today. This kid LOVES dressing up. She put this on to go to a birthday party today.

Michele made my daughter feel comfortable around her from the start (even with 11 other photographers around), and by the end of it, the two were total BFFs. (Big thanks to Melissa of Simply Said Photography for taking this pic!)

One of the AWESOME things about our session (beside the fact that we will soon have updated family pics - YAY), is that I will be getting a couple of headshots to use on my site. I am beyond excited to see how the photos will turn out. Now, since one of my "trademarks", if you will, is that I go pretty much everywhere on my Kick scooter, Michele incorporated that into the shoot as well. There will be headshots of me on my scooter (YAY!), and there will also be pics of my daughter and me on our matching pink scooters. Here's another photo from Melissa of Simply Said Photography - a pullback of the shot that Michele was taking. I love how this looks!

Extra bonus of our photo session was that I got to take a couple of shots too. This is a photo my daughter taking a photo of me with my very first DSLR (she's my little photographer-in-training). And Michele is in the background, taking a photo of my daughter and me taking photos of each other.

IMG_0348 And here are a couple of other snaps that I snuck in...

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At the end of our session, I snapped a pic of Michele and the workshop gals, taken from my patio. Michele shoots with Nikon (whereas I shoot with Canon), so she set up the shot for me. Here's a pic of her setting up the shot.

After our session, I was invited to tag along for dinner and for the maternity session in Yorkville! For those unfamiliar with Toronto, Yorkville is a very posh posh commercial pocket of Toronto, full of fancy little restaurants and expensive boutiques. You tend to see a lot of fancy cars parked on the street (think Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus), and celebrity sightings are plentiful (especially when TIFF used to be held in the area).

I should also mention that at the beginning of the session, there was a wedding shoot going on at the same time, and one of the workshop attendees noticed that the wedding photographer recognized Michele. So we were wit our own celebrity. BOOYAH!

Although I didn't bring my fancycam with me for the maternity session, I had a great time watching Michele at work, and chatting with the workshop attendees. Now, between the session location, the horde of 12 photographers, and the fact that the model couple for the maternity session looked like movie stars, we got several looks and inquiries from passers-by. At one point, one random guy popped in from behind to take a quick snap of the maternity model, thinking that she was some sort of celebrity! I really wish that I had gotten a photo of that!!!

Here are a few quick snaps that I took of the shoot with my iPhone:

After the maternity session, we all went for frozen yogurt. A very fitting end to the day indeed. I am so grateful to have had this experience - to have been in the photo session, to have gotten to work with Michele again, and to have met the wonderful ladies who attended the workshop. Thank you ALL for a lovely time, and I can't wait to see the photos and to share them with you!!!

PS: Thanks MeeMaw (aka Michele's awesome mom who comes to help out at her workshops) for snapping this photo of Michele and me. :)