If anyone would of told me how much my life would of changed from this experience in Seattle, I would of called you crazy then tried to sell you a can of magic air.
I was the first one to fly in to Seattle, call me a planner, but I had mental pictures of my plane being delayed or canceled. Never mind the fact that I was flying out a day early…. So out of that craziness, I left for the LAX airport at 5am for a 7am flight. I was the only one with a rental car (I had to pick up cupcakes!), so I stayed around the airport and waited for Ashley’s flight to come in.
I’m so glad I did. It was the start of an amazing, life changing weekend.
Almost the entire day Ashley and I explored Seattle. This involved buying matching umbrellas, walking around with those umbrellas even though it wasn’t really raining, eating way-too-spicy thai food (a # 2 out of 5 isn’t suppose to burn!), finding cool graffiti and talking about how cute store window dogs were. Oh and it took us 5 times longer to get anywhere because we had the habit of stopping every minute to take photos.
We did what dorky photographers do best…take photos of each other.
Later that night the 7 of us met and within 30 minutes felt like we have known each other forever.
Ashley Goodwin, Tim King, Anthony Quesada, Erin Oveis Brant, John Payne and Christy Cropper – we fit together like a dysfunctional family should. Laughing became a constant, and inside jokes were passed around like water during a marathon…or triathlon (btw, you can do it Erin!!!).
On top of the jokes and laughing…their was a recurring theme for this weekend…we wanted to be different. We wanted to stand out and show how unique each and every one of us are. Since Jasmine explained it best, you can read about our breakfast shenanigans here.
Jasmine is a thoughtful sweetheart. Like beyond thoughtful. I’ve been wanting to go to her workshop for the past year now, and during the workshop she gives everyone a cute little note, notepad and pen. I squeaked when I saw the pen. Yeah, this girl has simple pleasures. 🙂
Me ready to get my learn on…
The crew did an amazing job. Randomly I would turn around when the cameras were off and ninja-style take photos of the camera men. They were really nice and didn’t look at me that strangely.
The knowledge that came from Jasmine blew me away. I’m still processing some of it. As Tim so smartly said…”its like taking a drink of water out of a fire hose”. Even though I was there, I know I’m going to re-watch the course a 1,000 times just to drink every last drop. 🙂
After we were finished with the first day of filming and learning we decided to get our tourist-on!
The view from the top of the Space Needle!
After the Space Needle we started walking back to the hotel…then saw an ally. You know, the perfect spot for yoga and such. You must gather your focus young one…
My favorite sign in Seattle!
It took me a while to gather my thoughts. I’m actually still gathering them…its kinda like I’m in a swimming pool and finding quarters at the bottom.
And a huge thanks to Jasmine Star, JD, and the entire crew at CreativeLIVE. If you didn’t watch the course you’re missing out.
Look out for day 3+4! 🙂
<3
Candice
Candice, you are an absolute pleasure to be around! You have a light, beautiful energy about you which shows in your photography. I LOVE it! Looking forward to seeing more from our weekend at creativeLIVE with Jasmine and more from you for years to come. xoxo
When you announced your intention to quit your job, it blew my mind. I cheered for you 🙂 (Did you do it?)
WOW! You know Candice, I knew you were a good photographer, but I didn’t know you were a GREAT photographer!
I’m jealous of your skillz! Really cool shots here…loved the jelly ones. So clean, so fresh, so…Candice. (If I were saying it, the “Candice” would be sounded out dramatically.
I don’t even need to say it, but it was so awesome meeting you. Can’t wait to see you ballin out of control, livin the high life in a mansion in Mission Viejo.
Just promise you’ll invite me over!
That’s awesome that you got to hang out with Ashley all day 🙂 The one time I’ve been to Seattle I loved it, what a great city! And LOL at the “crouching photographer, hidden shot” post 😉
Awesome girl! Looks like you had a blast!
I LOVE your photos…especially the Space Needle and the view from it! Gorgeous!!!! Looks like you had fun & I’m looking forward to hearing more about your trip! You didn’t tell us yet exactly HOW it was life-changing…is that post 2? 🙂
Much more info will be put into part 2! 🙂 My brain is still trying to comprehend all of it. 🙂
Thank you SO MUCH for the ride! It was so generous of you to wait, and I am thrilled that you did! We TOTALLy got to bond and geek out over Jasmine and Twilight. HEAVEN! I don’t want to say “it was such a pleasure meeting you” because that’s just too professional, and A: It was MORE than pleasurable to meet you and B: We all aren’t very professional. 😉
It was an HONOR to say the least. You are incredibly talented, cute and quirky and I LOVE you! Meeting you and everyone else changed my life 180%. You introduced me to my first pad thai, even if I was having to google cures for spicy attacks at our table, you were down for anything (girl even told the waiter to “surprise” her at lunch!!) and were so open and honest with your photography and techniques. And back button! Oh god girl, I LOVE YOU FOR THE BACK BUTTON TIP! Like, love.
You are blow your mind talented and trust me, you will have no problem standing out in the crowd in the O.C. Hey, I never lost you once in the crowded public market, did I?
I LOVE YOU!!
xoxoxox
& P.S. thanks for getting some rockin’ photos! I always freeze up in the camera, so I appreciate it tremendously! You are a true artist and made me so comfortable in front of that FANCY camera of yours!
I am still so blown away by your work. Can’t wait to say “I KNOW THAT GIRL! Yeah, that REAL FAMOUS ONE! I KNOW HER!” Hopefully we will ALL be together, taking each other to fancy dinners soon. 🙂 See ya in Hawaii!!
i love you sooooo much! 🙂
I just finished reading Ashley’s post on her blog and it’s great to see your perspective on your outing! Can’t wait to see the great things you do!
great post
i watched it live – it was super informative
glad you went
Maros
Candice,
I love love love these photos. You are so talented and such a fun person to be around. It is hard not to smile with you in the room. I can’t wait til we are able to meet again as this was one of the best weekends ever. Great work
Hi Candice, I was able to watch the 2nd day of the cL event and it was awesome! I love your work and you have such a positive spirit…thanks for sharing. 🙂
Candice, you are such an incredible, sweet, inspirational, talented, lovely, & infectiously joyful person. It was so much fun to learn from you, watch you come out of your shell, and generally just share this experience with you. I am SO UNBELIEVABLY excited that we are going to shoot together AT LEAST once this year and hopefully many more times for years to come! I love you, my friend. Thank you for being you! 🙂 XOXO
[…] being me in Seattle & employing some of those learned yoga poses via Candice Benjamin. Comes in handy while shooting brick walls, you […]
[…] love Seattle. Not only is it a gorgeous location, but it’s the place where I decided to quit my full time job over two years ago. The few times I did fly to Seattle, I never got around to exploring the areas […]
[…] being me in Seattle & employing some of those learned yoga poses via Candice Benjamin. Comes in handy while shooting brick walls, you […]