Getting on the Fast Track

I put off writing this blog for almost a month now. Part of the reason was I was partially in shock after the whole experience. Not in a bad way but in a sort of stunned "Woah, what just happened?" way. You see, I had read Dane Sander's book, The Fast Track Photographer and was so excited to find he was coming to Boulder in December. I was signed up for the workshop and thought I knew just what was in store for me. But Dane had a different vision for his workshop. It wasn't "here's what I do, copy and be like me." It was a deep conversation with 16 new friends that started a very deep conversation with myself. I came home both nights bursting with new ideas and thoughts churning in my head. My poor parents couldn't escape and endured hours of me talking. (Not that that was anything new for them. I started talking when I was 2 and haven't shut up since.) I told them all about being a CEO and how I needed to get above my forest or I wouldn't really know what was going on. There was a metaphor with The Polar Express and I needed to know that my train was going to the North Pole whether the little boy was on it or not. And how could I forget the clip from Mad Men or the discussion on Getting Things Done?

In truth, I could probably bore you with the same hours of stuff I talked to my parents about. Or I could say simply that Dane changed my life. But he didn't. He showed me I can change my life. I met 16 awesome people who I am for, 100%. And he gave me 16 people who are for me, actually I know he gave me more than 16 people. The most amazing thing that happened at the workshop wasn't the mind blowing information or the awesome discussions about what it means to have a photography business. The most amazing thing was that photographers who had attended Dane's workshop in Maui cared for people they'd never met before. Somehow, we were cosmically connected by this little thing called a Fast Track Workshop. We were connected enough for them to send us a hula dancer, cookies and cupcakes. And we were connected enough for them to send each of us a handwritten card, telling us how excited they were for our journey into FastTrack-dom. That was what amazed me the most.

So thank you, Dane. Thank you for encouraging me to leap. Thank you for giving me people who I know have my back. Thank you for making your workshop such an open and safe space. And thank you, fellow Fast Track attendees for baring your souls, for working as team and for being for each other. Because I am definitely for you!

Because blog posts are boring without something for your eyeballs to view... the below photos are from a little shoot we did the first day with two couples who were so awesome in standing and modeling in the sub-freezing cold!

The two Kelseys, borrowed from my new buddy Kelsey Schweickert's blog

And, the whole gorgeous group, photographed using Gail Werner's camera, and borrowed from her blog