Austin Family and Children Photographer | Magan's Lens » Austin Family and Children Photographer, Magan Blasig

I’ve finally finished correcting all the sizes of my photos to add to this blog. There aren’t a ton, but I wanted to make sure it was all correct before sitting down to write. I wanted to be focused and ready to write this post, uninterrupted. You saw Day 01 of Nashville, ImagingUSA 2010 here, but now it’s time for the rest. And pictures. A blog post is always better with them. (If you are reading about this for the first time, go check out Day 01 first.)

Before I begin, this is the car picnic I was referring to in Day 01:

Day 02

1. Awoke very sleepy at 5:45
2. Showered and left room by 6:35
3. Went to absolute wrong side of Opryland for check-in (do you know how huge that place is?!)
4. Only about 100 or so people in line in front of me.
5. Probably going to miss the first class.
6. Didn’t miss the class. Was late. Check out Dane Sanders!
7. Facebook class is overwhelmingly full.
8. {somehow, #8 was left blank. weird.}
9. 11:00AM Trade Show Mayhem- it was like a stockyard getting into the show! (Below: Troy was doing a talk about PickPic.

10. Met five awesome women today. Such an encouraging, empowering moment for me. {check end of day 02 for their names/websites}
11. Waited until 2:30 to eat. All day. No bueno…but there’s so much to see!
12. Two evening classes, one on lighting and the second on projection.
13. Brain overload coming soon.
14. Awesome projecting class. Awe.Some.
15. Met up with the amazing women again.
16. 8:45ish Left to have dinner with the hubs. Overwhelmed him with all my info.
17. Almost fell asleep at dinner.
18. Crashed as soon as we got to hotel.

Here are the names and websites for my new friends (scroll over/click on name for link):

Alice Park from Atlanta, Georgia, Child Photographer, Owner/Brain behind NAPCP
Sara Harris from Hayes, Virgina, Child Photographer
Mandy Johnson from Nashville, Tennessee, Child Photographer
Tira Young from Southern California , Child, Family, and Wedding Photographer

Day 03

1. Waking up this morning was way too hard.
2. Hello, 7:00 class.
3. Thank you to Allison and Jeff Rodgers for waking me up. Frickin’ awesome!
4. Breakfast with my friends. Yum. Omelets. Fresh fruit. Oh, my.

5. Visited Mandy Johnson’s studio. Holy moly, awesome!

—the following photos are from Mandy’s studio and taken with my iPhone—

A wall of photos. To be more precise, the same photo to show how it looks in each of the different sizes.

The seating/welcome area. A “fireplace” to show how a cluster of canvases would look above it. {I want this in my home.}

Mandy focuses primarily on children’s photography. Isn’t the table precious? I love the contrast against the wall.

The light is *fantastic* in her studio. Mandy is pictured to the right. Unbeknownst to her, I was taking a picture.

Ordering prints can be overwhelming, right? Mandy’s found a wonderful way to simplify pricing and ordering.

The image on the left is what she uses most for her marketing. The beautiful freckled girl is her daughter. {smile}

I love the textures in her studio.

The seating area.

[left] a view into the photography area. [right] Tira (left) and Sara (right) having a conversation.

View into photography area on left with the amazing Sara on the right.  She was always dressed so cute!

6. Went to the trade show with Tira.
7. Enjoyed awesome talks from WHCC.
8. 4:30- Found out I didn’t win the free camera

9. 4:45 Sat and waited for Tamara’s talk to begin at 5:30
10. Met two more awesome gals. Traded tips and tricks. (*Names and websites at the end of this day.)
11. 5:30 Tira ninja snuck in and scored us 2nd row seats for Tamara’s class
12. 5:31 Old lady was mean to me re: my attempted sneak in
13. 5:36 Frantically searched for Tira and the seat she saved me.
14. 6:05 Tamara’s class has not started due to all the 1600 people piling in
15. 1600 people tweet for Tamara prizes. I don’t win. One guy scores with a $5000 prize!
16. 7:30 Imaging people want class to be over but attendees enjoying it!
17. The sign says we have to go. Class over.
18. Meet up with gal pals before dinner with Dus.
19. Eat at Cracker Barrel with Dustyn. It’s a Blasig tradition to do so while on vacation. I guess this was a vacation.
20. So thankful for Cracker Barrel having Burt’s Bees. Lips falling off and serious burning.  I left my purse in the room that day.
21. At hotel. Minor blog stalking.
22. 10:25 bedtime. 6AM rise time.

New friends from today:
Katy Southern, from Nashville, Tennessee, Child and Wedding Photographer
Brandi Pitts, from Nashville, Tennessee, Child Photographer

Day 04

1. Hit snooze only once for my 6:00 wake up.
2. Shower, dress, and pack before leaving hotel.
3. Running late- might miss class. Wait, haven’t decided which one I’m taking.
4. Classes don’t start until 7:30 (whew!) so I have time to look at schedule.
5. Decide on a wedding posing class.
6. Get there 30 minutes early.
7. None of photog friends are up.
8. Doug Gordon is making us dance to wake us up. Way too early and I’m slightly embarrassed.
9. Shows us in an hour how to do over 100+ poses with brides and grooms.
10. Now to remember all of that.
11. 9:18 photog friends still not up. Trade show not open. Sitting on the stairs. Waiting.
12. Decide we are coming home after 6:30 class which will bring us back to Austin a day later than expected.
13. Trade show. Sign up for giveaways (that I don’t win) and meet more vendors.
14. Listen to talks at WHCC booth and scribble notes as quickly as possible.
15. Meet up with Sara, Alice, and Mandy. Learn more from these superstars.
16. Eat a yummy lunch.
17. Make a pact to attend ImagingUSA next year in San Antonio.
18. Jose Villa wedding class at 3:00. The man still shoots film. And it is gorgeous.
19. Kim Wylie and Laura Novak class at 5:00. Awesome.
20. Punk next to me won two awesome prizes and horded them even those they said for him to share.
21. Class ended at 6:30, and I started getting sad at 6:15.
22. Told all my friends good-bye. Took pictures. Cried.
23. Went into women’s bathroom and cried my eyeballs out.
24. Loaded the car and wept.
25. Reality hit around 7:00 that we hadn’t booked a hotel for the night in Memphis.
26. Downloaded the Priceline iPhone app.
27. Scored a sweet deal with Priceline at a Crowne Plaza. Good-bye little full-sized bed.

Day 05

1. Sleep in until 9:30! Wahoo!
2. While in checkout line at hotel, hear that valet car got broken into and GPS’ were stolen.  Eek.
3. We didn’t park valet and our car is fine.
4. Leave hotel around 10:45AM.
5. Eat at Taco Bell and weird man comes in. We give him two tacos.
6. Shortly after he starts speaking crazily to himself.
7. Get on the road and I try to read Tamara Lackey’s book….
8. But fall asleep. (not because of content… I’m just a perpetual car sleeper.)
9. Sleep for 2 hours. :[
10. I start driving at 2:30. Cross border into Texas around 3:30.
11. Texarcana smells weird.
12. 4:20 pull over to side of road because Dustyn has to talk with NI peeps
13. (he talks way too loud)
14. Pretty sure every third radio station is country music.
15. I drive and reflect on my goals, hopes, aspirations…and pray for guidance.
16. We stop in Tyler, Tx at 6:30 for Rudy’s BBQ. Yum. I tell Dus about yesterday and some of my thoughts.
17. I love my husband.
18. Make the decision to pick up pups tonight because the rest of the week is nuts. An extra 30 minutes added to schedule to swing by my parentals.
19. Think about my friends B&K who are arriving in Texas Friday from PA!
20. Not a single good radio station.
21. Knit for a while. Hoping to finish second scarf to give to friends at same time.
22. 10:03 arrive at parents house, where my sister has graciously taken care of my canine kids.
23. 11:20 I’m soooo beyond ready to get out of the car. Shower. Pajamas.
24. Can’t figure out where to begin tomorrow. Probably emailing and scheduling meetings.

And that was my trip. You might be wondering why in the heck I was sad to be leaving TN. I’ve always been this way – I get very connected to people. Very inspired by people. I was so overwhelmed by my thoughts, goals, dreams, everything I’d learned… and I was leaving the people I could ask questions. It’s seriously like being in this perfect little bubble where everything will work out perfectly, but then reality hits and I’m back on the road… and nothing is certain.

But here I am, and no matter what, I’m determined. I’m ready. Excited. Hopeful. Prayerful. ImagingUSA was one of the best experiences of my life and I’m so thankful they provided me with a free ticket to go (note to photographers: you get free admission to a conference your first year you join PPA).