Megan Elise

I have had the hardest time trying to string the right few words together to describe my week in Austin at the FIND {Film Is Not Dead} Workshop a few weeks ago. It was such an amazing week of learning, eating, laughing, shooting and was filled with some of the best, most awesome people I have ever met. {Also, I loved Austin} I left feeling so incredibly inspired in both my business and my personal shooting.

More than anything, I walked away knowing that, film or digital, I want my pictures to have more weight and meaning. In this current age, it’s so easy to be a photographer. To rapid fire off pictures onto a memory card and never consider if they’re good or meaningful or whether you would actually print them. Hold them in your hand and save them for a future generation. When I shoot film, I am painfully slow {just ask Brent} because I want to be absolutely sure that what I’m capturing has value, that it’s worth developing. This is how I want to shoot all the time – film, digital, or iphone; weddings or personal work – not slow necessarily, but conscientiously. And I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to be part of this workshop that has pushed me to do that and learn more of the technical aspects of film.

Since I’ve been back, I bought a used Mamiya RZ Pro II that I can’t wait to learn and incorporate into my weddings and personal work. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorites from my week in Austin {shot on a Nikon N90S and various Kodak film}. A super huge thanks and hugs to Jon Canlas and Catherine Abegg and all of the other photographers {including my roommate, Anda!} for making the week the raddest. xo.

{self portrait on the morning of my last day of 29}

I remember my twentieth birthday clear as day.

I had just returned home from a semester of studying abroad in Sevilla. A semester that was fun and crazy and confusing in the way that only a few months in college really can be. I had gained 12 pounds on paella, pan and tinto de veranos and was suddenly thrust back into my high school bedroom at my parents house after months of absolute freedom on a different continent where I had showed up knowing absolutely no one. The night before my birthday, I was finishing up a sixteen hour shift at the hospital that I worked at and I remember distinctly thinking – “this is my last hour of my teens” and feeling instantly terrified and really really sad at letting go of such a substantial piece of my life. How was that even ten years ago??! It seems almost impossible.

Today is the day before my thirtieth birthday.

I wanted to take a quick picture this morning to remember the last day of my twenties without putting too much emphasis on /what it all means/. I could over analyze and write all day about this whole age thing and what I’ve accomplished and learned in my twenties and what I hope for and expect from my thirties but honestly..

I am here. And with this guy.

And I’m not terrified at all.