Two months ago, I spent a day with a roomful of strangers all with a solitary goal – to grow and invest in their futures in the photography industry. We listened together, laughed together, some of us maybe-might-have cried together. Bottomline, we all experienced this huge leap of growth together; the word powerful doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of the experience.

I can tell you first hand – I didn’t fully realize the value of a workshop until I attended one myself. It’s so much more than the things you learn on a material level; it’s also about the friendships you make and the people who in turn can challenge you, encourage you and mentor you. It’s 100% about getting out of your comfort zone (and for me that meant getting out of my zip code) and giving yourself the time and opportunity to be pushed in ways you don’t normally allow yourself or even in ways can’t do yourself.

I challenge you to invest in yourself that way in 2010; whether it’s Jeffrey’s workshop or someone else’s workshop (I am biased – go to Jeffrey’s!) it honestly has been the best thing I have done for my business this year.

JNP Workshop
Jeffrey Neal

(The gorgeous couple in the photos is the stunning and talented Amy Tan and her beau JC. And neither is a model. Yeah, I didn’t believe them either.)

It took one missed flight, an intense argument with a Delta agent, three “talk me off the ledge” conversations with 3 different people and nine ridiculously long hours in the Minneapolis airport but I swear to you the flight into Newport Beach was like my own version of the dream where everything is has a pink romantic hue to it and fog machines blow out puffy white clouds and you’re not quite sure if people actually have feet or if they are floating.

We chased the setting sun from MSP to SNA as it set into a rainbow of colors and at one point, I’m pretty sure that Jonathan Taylor Thomas tossed me a bag of gold-covered peanuts as he winked at me and blew air kisses. It was THAT good.

I am not ashamed to say that I fell head-over-heels in love with Orange County the moment my feet hit the sand. I conceptually and whole-heartedly understood why a disproportionate amount of my friends had thrown their hands in the air and moved to Southern California with zero forethought; only dreams of sunny beaches and 70 degree weather. Had there been time to spend a day at Disneyland, I might have done the exact same.

Dear Southern California, can we be besties for life?