A few weeks ago, I traveled to Austin, Texas with four other senior photographers for the Seniorologie Tour Austin.  These other photographers helped me create one of the best tours EVER!! (I know I say that after every tour but this one truly was the BEST!!)  Brittney Kluse, Amii Wroblewski, Misti Davis and Courtney DeLaura joined me to help give our attendees the best workshop to help them succeed in their senior business!

I asked each of the speakers to send me a review of their time at the tour and Brittney’s is up first!  This review is written so perfectly and when I read it, I both laughed and cried at the fun times we had.  Check it out below!

If you follow me on Instagram (@brittneykluse), around the late-April time period, you may have thought I was secretly on-set for the sequel to the 2008 comedy hit, Step-Brothers (insert: Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly). But no. I was with four girls just like me. Passionate about their husbands, kids, and puppies … passionate about their businesses … passionate about helping other photographers avoid the pitfalls they endured … and it didn’t hurt we all liked reality TV, moonshine, and making slow-motion videos. These four ladies started as professionals I deeply admired as respected as photographers in our industry – and became my step-sisters with the same unicorn blood running through us.

So, there is this girl named, Leslie. And she’s the leader of a wolf pack called Seniorologie. Leslie and I met when I attended Seniorologie’s shoot out in Las Vegas. Little did I know she would be one of the most influential people in my business, helping take me from an attendee in the classroom, to teaching it. Leslie, or “Oz” as I like to call her, is the woman behind the curtain. She is manages a thriving online e-learning business – Seniorologie, a photography business – Leslie Kerrigan Photography, her husband and two busy boys, cross-country workshops, and more. If you’ve never planned a workshop, I liken it to trying to change the diaper on a 15-month old hopped up on sugar. All the work and thought that went behind the binders attendees received, to the Tour location, models, style, and more are her brain child. Leslie truly believes in helping and teaching the up-and-coming photographers in the industry. She thrives on truth-in-teaching and providing valuable information that her attendees are seeking. In two separate workshops, I’ve seen Leslie work harder than sometimes she is appropriately credited for. She is her own toughest critic, but only because she so passionately wants to deliver the best – and only the best – in all aspects of her business, friendships, and life. She’s multi-talented, a proven task-master, and somehow operates on four meals a week as she often forgets to eat because she is so busy doing things for others. I know Seniorologie will only continue to grow in it’s success and I’m proud to be associated with it AND am thankful for the opportunities she has given me to work with her.

So, there is this girl named, Courtney. And she loves this guy named Nick. Courtney has the most diverse resume of any photographer I have met. She’s shot film, digital, lifestyle portraiture, large-chain corporate look books, and commercial photography. I secretly think she’s trying to take over the world, and am assuming it will be revealed on the season finale of the soon-to-be-picked-up-Bravo-television-series, Courtney Loves Nick. Courtney is the “old soul” of our wolf pack. She wears her late-grandmother’s necklace, is married the love of her life, finds happiness watching her son’s lacrosse tournaments, and styles her daughter’s hair each morning. She’s happiest surrounded by her close family and finds her creative outlet using her extensive expertise towards the subjects and products she chooses to photograph and market. If this were a yearbook, Courtney would be voted, “most like to wave to you on the street.” Don’t ask her to go camping, but just abut anything else and she will be there for you in a second. Courtney offers a straight-forward approach to teaching and passionately encourages photographers to charge what they believe they are worth at a price-point that makes sense for their market. I’ve laughed with and learned from Courtney … and once, I almost ruined her drumset.

So, there is this girl named, Amii. And she’s survived Tough Mudder … T-W-I-C-E. When you look at the barely-five-foot, blonde beauty with the soft southern voice, you may not automatically think she has swam under blocks of ice, crawled through low-voltage wires, doesn’t own a car, and enjoys nothing more than the smooth taste of crown and coke that is most often enjoyed by 70-year old men. I found this out, and loved her more. Amii, or Amil as she is known to friends, has been a staple on the national scene of senior portrait photographers for the last few years. I first found Amii through my early blog-stalking days and immediately connected with her fresh, natural, and simple style of photographing senior girls in the girl-next-door way. I admired her work so much, I personally sought her out for one-on-one mentoring that helped change the way I priced and packaged my senior sessions. Even though I felt like I had know her for years, I “formally” met her at this last workshop. By that evening, we bonded over our children’s love of nakedness, chickens, and thumbs-up. As the little lady in a house of busy boys, she is re-prioritizing the number of photo shoots she can commit to, but no matter one shoot or one-hundred, she will be sought after for her no-smoke-and-mirrors business tactics that built her into an industry name. Oh – did I mention, “IT’S FRIDAY???”

So, there is this girl named Misti. And she has climbed mountains … figuratively and literally. With her thriving senior photography business, busy home life remodeling her and her husband’s dream home, she still finds time to sleep with the bears atop the tallest mountains as she support’s her husband’s passion for climbing. I met Misti at the Seniorologie shoot out in Las Vegas as a fellow attendee. Paired up in the same group, we quickly connected and a Facebook-friendship followed for the past two years; both of us catching up right where we left off each time we see each other. Dusty’s … oops, strike that; Misti’s easy-going and relatable personality mixed with her talent for freshly capturing senior girls with a modern look has brought her quick success with her clients and the photography industry. A small sentence on her inner wrist discretely displays the profound love and empathy she has for her family and friends. Misti and I could become a dangerous combination if left unattended at a truck-stop bar or make-up counter, so it’s better that we use the “buddy” system to stay together with chaperones. She sure loves her dogs, but I’m working to convince her how great kittens are. I look up to her as a photographer and love when she gets INSANE with me.

Written by Amii about Brittney – So then there is this girl named Brittney.  If you don’t know the energy and hilarity of Britt, well, I feel bad for you son, you’ll have 99 problems and not knowing Brittney is one.  As fate would have it, Britt was actually born a unicorn, a mythical creature full of myth and lore.  One of her many magical talents is her ability to have everything she says turn into an immediate hashtag and also for random shopkeepers offer her up a beer in a clothing store.  You would never know it based on her fondness for Mac Cosmetics and her big blonde bob that she lives in the Great Outdoors with her camo-wearing husband and her always naked (but highly adorable) kids nicknamed Buddy and Chicken.  For fun, Britt declares thumb war and loves catching up on her favorite show “Courtney Loves Nick”.  Photographers near and far flock to Brittney’s vivacious personality but even more so to her equally gorgeous and colorful style with her work.  As fun as she is, she is just as passionate and serious about the business side of things.  Brittney would never consider herself a rockstar or celebrity photographer but she most certainly is!  And As a side note, she has a special fondness for apples and kittens.