Amy Wenzel Workshop • Giveaway Recap!

Written by: Angie Arthur
co-founder of i heart faces

This post is rather lengthy, but we hope you’ll enjoy reading Angie’s summary of Amy Wenzel’s workshop and then some thoughts from Amy and the Workshop Winner as well!

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Last month I had the huge privilege of attending Amy Wenzel’s Photography Workshop as part of the Workshop Giveaway she sponsored here at i heart faces.

I attended the workshop not as a participant, but as an observer who was there to record the interaction between Amy and the winner of her giveaway. Karin Prunty received the blessing of a free spot at the workshop ($1,500 value) as a gift from Amy!

“Amazing” is the word that comes to my mind when I think back to the whole workshop experience. I was amazed by my roommate, Karin and by the knowledge that Amy shared with us over the course of those two days. (And yes, Karin and I both have to somehow convince our children that it’s not okay to meet strangers even though their mommies shared a hotel room without ever having met before! LOL!) After having the opportunity to connect through email before we ever arrived at the workshop, we decided to share a room and I’m so glad that we did! It provided us even more time to get to know each other and foster a friendship that will last for a lifetime.

The first night of the workshop was spent eating a private dinner together with just Karin, myself, Amy and her husband, David. Karin shared her adoption experience with us and we enjoyed learning even more about her and her incredible life story. After dinner was over, we then moved out to the lobby to spend the social hour time with the rest of the workshop attendees.

An added bonus of the whole workshop experience for me was definitely the other wonderful women who attended the workshop that week. Amy truly seems to attract an incredible type of person to attend her workshops!

During our first official day of the workshop, we spent quite some time listening to Amy share a bit about her business, her philosophy as a photographer and learning many tidbits that will be useful for a long time to come. It was fascinating to hear about the process that led Amy into making the decision to become a photographer and to learn how she has decided to structure her business to fit her style of photography and her needs.

Then the fun began when we headed off for an entire afternoon of shooting!

Since it was raining Amy held the shoot in the same lobby where we had met for our social hour. The light in there was incredible and the architectural elements added a lot to the images everyone was able to capture.

While the workshop attendees were watching and learning from Amy, I headed up the elevator about 300 billion stories (only a slight exaggeration!), walked out onto a balcony, hung my almost-brand-new Canon 5D Mark II over the all-glass banister just so that I could capture this shot for all of you…

If you knew how deathly afraid of heights I am, you would know just how much I love you all to take that shot!

Day Two was spent in the classroom learning more from Amy about how to effectively run your own photography business and then we watched Amy edit her photos and learned all kinds of tips and hints concerning Photoshop and her processing style. Priceless!

Before I end, here are Amy’s thoughts concerning the workshop giveaway:

I was excited to teach my two workshops again this year. It’s always a rewarding experience for me as well as the attendees. As most people know from reading my blog, my husband david was diagnosed with brain cancer this past year. One of the things we’ve learned from the Lord is the importance of giving to others, even when you yourself are in need. In fact, giving to others when you are in need is one of the most amazing experiences ever! People came out of the woodwork to help us last year. We received meals, money, free lodging, a paid vacation, letters of encouragement, endless prayer and much more. We never asked for anything but prayer, yet God provided for our every need. Experiencing the generosity of others on such a grand scale impressed me with the fact that I want to be a person who gives back in every area of my life, so I decided to give back through my workshops as well. I wanted to give away a free seat to someone who inspired me by the way they lived their life.

Although the idea of the contest was fun in theory, reading through the stories and trying to decide a winner was NOT fun, simply because every single person deserved to win. I have been an open and honest blogger this past year, and I was so proud of each of the participants for being willing to put their story out there publicly. We all have so much to learn from one another and yet often we hind behind closed doors.

I chose Karin’s entry because she inspired me tremendously on so many levels, and mostly because of the continual, active choices she’s making that make a difference in the lives of children. I wanted to bless her with the workshop seat. I felt strongly that through all of this there was a specific person who was meant to be at the workshop, and I prayed that God would reveal to me that person. I don’t know how to explain it in words, but when I read Karin’s entry I knew she was the one. That is the only way I was able to choose. All of the entries were just so good.

Meeting Karin was awesome. Before the workshop David and I were able to have dinner with her and Angie Arthur. I’m so glad we did because it gave us that personal time to connect before the bustle of the workshop activities began. Meeting Karin was kind of what I already knew in my heart – she is sweet, humble, intelligent, passionate and driven. I loved hearing the stories of her many adoptions and the obstacles they faced with each one, and the way God came through every time. I was impressed by her faith. Like a big sister, I felt there was so much I could learn from Karin and the wisdom she has gained from her experiences. I just know that God is going to continue to do amazing things through her life, and the best is yet to come! Through the workshop I knew I could always look at Karin’s face to see that sparkle in her eye. Her kids are blessed to have her for a mommy!

I pray the workshop will aid her in her life/photography journey. I can’t wait to hear about any of the ways that she has benefited from attending. I’m so glad she came…it wouldn’t have been the same without her there. Doing the give-away contest took the workshop to a whole new level for me and I am so grateful that I met both Karin and Angie through it!

And Karin’s thoughts as well:

Winning was completely stunning. Seriously. I never expected to win, so when I saw my name, I think I went numb. I was so stunned. I just kept staring at my computer and saying to myself, “I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it! No way.” It was 10:30 at night when I checked I Heart Faces to see who won and I had a very hard time getting to sleep that night!

As the time neared for the workshop, I still was completely in awe that I was getting the amazing opportunity to meet Amy Wenzel, Angie Arthur and to learn from them. I have learned so much from I Heart Faces this year. Getting to go to Amy Wenzel’s workshop was a dream come true.

Meeting Amy and Angie was so fun! I felt at ease with them right away because they are both so easy to be with. I remember sitting across from Amy at dinner the first night and thinking, “I can’t believe she gave me a scholarship to her workshop AND she is taking time out of her busy schedule to have dinner with me–a total stranger.” Amy is a warm, sweet and beautiful woman and it was such a joy and privilege to meet her. I was so humbled by her kindness.

The workshop was awesome! I learned so much that I am still trying to absorb it all. I came home with my mind swimming with ideas and extremely excited about a future in photography. When I went to the workshop, I was just hoping to learn how to take better photos and learn how to use Photoshop. I came away with a new dream. As I listened to Amy tell her story and share her expertise with us, a dream was born…to develop my own photography business. But even more exciting than a new dream was the new friends that I made. There were so many wonderful women there and we all had a great time together. We have our own Facebook group so that we can continue to stay in touch and help each other in the future.

Amy’s workshop was chock full of instruction on how to take better photos, how to build your photography business and step-by-step instructions in Photoshop. We also had the opportunity to spend one afternoon on a photo shoot. Amy arranged to have models come at staggered intervals for several hours so that we could practice what she had taught us. We also had the opportunity to watch Amy in action!

I will be forever grateful to I Heart Faces and Amy Wenzel for the amazing opportunity to be at Amy’s workshop. It was a gift I will always treasure.

If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of Amy’s workshop events, I would recommend it a thousand times over. She packs so much information into two days that you end up heading home with your head swimming, trying to decide how to best assimilate all of that information and fit it into how you’d like to run your own business.

Every single person I talked to said that the workshop fee was completely worth it and they’d gladly spend it again. They definitely got their money’s worth from the whole experience!

Meeting Amy was a dream come true for me! She was one of the first photographers I followed online when I first starting falling in love with photography. Her testimony, faith and beautiful photos made her blog one of my favorites spots to continue spending time at. And as she said to me while we were saying our goodbyes… “I have a feeling our paths will be crossing again.”

And all I can think is… “I truly hope so!”

-Angie