Camp Do More is like this magical haven where photographers, models, and educators get together to empower, teach, shoot, and bond! It is one of the only places I personally I have ever been able to express myself as what I believe to be 100% Teri. I can swear without fear of offending, I can literally never wear pants, but definitely don all the sparkles (in fact, people are sad when I don't) and I can be my usual loud, hyper, positive human, hyping up others around me! Part of what I love about camp, is that I am able to shoot whenever I want with no obligation to anyone or anything....so basically, if I was inspired, I would grab someone and go shoot! That being said, before I went to camp, I found these cute little bathing suit bottoms with suspenders from Forever 21, so I knew I wanted to shoot them. I even took my silly little captain's hat "just in case" and it all paid off in this micro session with Miss E. She is the first of many of to come, but I hope you enjoy the first shoot I did at Camp Do More 2019!
The Calm & The Chaos ~ Boudoir Educator
This past April, I headed to Calgary to teach a workshop alongside one of my favorite photographers, Boon Ong or Figuratif by Boon Ong (he's the one that inspired me to put music to my blog posts to amp up the experience!) I had contacted him last year to see if he would be interested in teaching with me for a few reasons: 1) I wanted to learn from him 2) I knew he was the complete opposite method and approach as me and 3) There are very few Canadian boudoir specific workshops that happen! When I reached out to him, I could tell he was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, but part of my charm is that I don't give up and I pester with extra emojis and exclamation points until people come play with me, so when he agreed I was suuuuper excited!!! As we approached the workshop day, Boon and I checked in with each other here and there to chat about how we wanted the workshop to flow, what were we each teaching about and just how would 2 seemingly opposite humans create a successful workshop. Welp, somehow we made it work. We booked a stellar airbnb in Calgary, managed to convince 7 strangers to hang out with us for the weekend to learn about the ins, outs, up and downs of our businesses, and helped Boon celebrate his birthdayl! Through the 2 days that we were teaching, I learned A LOT about Boon and was so impressed with the thought that goes into his art. As an educator in the boudoir field, I always think it's important to let my attendees know that there is never ONE way to do things, and by having Boon and I, literally complete opposites, teach together, we hammered this home. We helped our attendees understand a few key things: that you don't need to be an entrepreneur photographer to be a professional photographer, the best experience you can create for your clients is by being 100% authentic to yourself, and of course, don't put yourself into a box when it comes to making art. The thing I like about having Boon as my colleague is his quiet confidence and ability to honestly critique my work....I have massive respect for this guy because every time he puts out new work, I notice something new...to the point that sometimes in the middle of sessions I will stop and say "how would Boon frame this/light this/pose this?" just to mix things up!! I think he is humble in his acceptance of my accolades, but that just makes me swoon over him that much more! Anyways, I hope we will do another Calm & the Chaos in the future!Photos featuring me were taken by the beautiful and talented Shannon Smith of Artist Shannon Smith in Calgary, AB (so you should book her for your session!!) She caught me looking my most professional, of course.
Winnipeg boudoir photography
They Let Girls Into Cubscouts Now - Winnipeg Photographer
Last week I had the pleasure of heading to Camp Do More in Ontario, just 2 hours outside of Toronto. This would be four days full of meeting with like minded boudy photogs, shooting, modelling, getting eaten by mosquitoes, and educating others on how my silly brain works to help empower women through photography. Because I was a little late in making my presentations, I didn't even have time to think about what I was going to shoot so I was little sad, but thought the break might be nice so I could focus on just teaching and meeting some fab humans. Well, fast forward to the few days I spent in Toronto pre-camp with my buddy Taylor (the one on the left above) and we visited this sweet ass vintage shop. After perusing a few racks Taylor held up this old child's size Cub Scout shirt and my brain took it and ran. We then sussed out an additional outfit for her friend Edith (one of the other models at camp...the one on the right above). We found vintage socks, vests, berets, scarves, etc. to make this naughty Cub Scout shoot come to life.After being inspired by all the other speakers at the Camp, I wanted to take something that Boon Ong (whom I did the workshop in Calgary with) does. His blog posts are treated as a full experience and he finds a song that fits for each one and as the music plays, while scrolling through the posts you get immersed in it. It becomes like a still movie...I think I may do this for all my babes going forward. It truly adds to the experience of the images. Anywho, feel free to "watch" our little story unfold below and if you are a photographer interested in coming to Camp Do More next year, we are half sold out on tickets, but you can get yours here!! (And don't forget to sign up for my classes mwahaha).[audio mp3="https://www.terihoffordphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Silk.mp3"][/audio] 
Florida Curves Workshop 2017 ~ International Boudoir Retreat
While Lindsay and I had done a previous workshop in Vegas, Florida Curves was going to be our first 2 day workshop where everyone stayed in the same house and while we expected it was going to be awesome, we were blown away. This workshop was intimate, emotional, vulnerable, creative, and full of education. The girls that came to the house brought amazing energy, bonded over life stories, and we got deep into what it means to be boudoir photographers and WHY it is so important to showcase a diversity of body types. While Lindsay and I come at boudoir from 2 different approaches, we merge together in style, execution, and business. As far as the workshop is concerned, we both teach the importance of running your business from a place of passion, hard work, and consistency. For both of us, having had less than desireable experiences being photographed as plus size babes, we both knew how important it was to show every woman that they are capable of feeling sexual, sensual, beautiful, powerful, and more. The work that both of us put out is beautiful, of course, but more importantly it is a reminder to women of all shapes, sizes, colors, orientations, and abilities that they are worthy. These are the main principles we teach at our workshops and to have 2 days to dive deep into it was amazing. There was wine, belly laughs, tears, big smiles, and skinny dipping (Shit, there was almost an accident with 2 guys in a golf cart thanks to Miss Molly's chest!!) It was incredible to see what can happen when women come together and support each other. If you are interested in joining us on our next adventure or partaking in a mentorship with myself or Lindsay, feel free to join our Facebook group to keep up to date with our travels!
Safehouse Workshop: NYC ~ Winnipeg Boudoir Photography
So...did September even happen? It was pretty much a whirlwind for me. My first adventure found me in Jersey City, Brooklyn, and Time Square X 3 times in the span of 5 days while I hung out with some of the best people in the world. When I first found out about the Safehouse Workshop: NYC through the Babetown Collective (an amazing group of photographers on Facebook/internets) I knew that without a doubt I needed to get there. So, I contacted Babetown's fearless leader Lola Gilbert and I told her that I would do whatever I could do to come play in New York, so she hooked me up with a teaching job for the workshop.
I was beyond ecstatic and actually recall screaming the good news while I was in a hotel room in Vancouver in April! While I knew this week was going to be epic beyond measure, what I didn't expect was meeting SO MANY incredible, talented, passionate, and inspiring people from all over. The coolest thing about Babetown is that it is not specific to one genre of photography, so this workshop was unlike any I had attended before. We had instructors for headshots (#chadshots), self portraits, silhouettes, intimate male portraits, family portraits, maternity sessions, engagement, same sex couples and intimate storytelling, and plus size boudoir by yours truly. So, when I wasn't instructing I was able to partake in the other instructors' classes and at first I was like, "that's silly...I don't shoot X,Y,Z, so maybe I should just hang back"....but quickly I realized just how awesome it was to be a noob at different genres of photography. I'm not saying I know everything about boudoir, but if I'm teaching on the subject, I best be somewhat of a specialist on the topic....but I definitely was not a subject matter expert in the other genres. It was awesome to take little bits from each instructor and see how I can apply it to boudoir. In fact, I have noticed that my work since attending the Safehouse Workshop has been a bit more playful, intriguing and exciting...pulling from the inspiration of those amazing people I met in NYC.
While I am thankful for the opportunities that have come out of this workshop, I am mostly thankful for the amazing friendships that I have made in a relatively competitive industry. I have people I can message on FB, strike up a ZOOM chat, or just send random voice notes to in an effort to make mine and their days better. Since coming back from this Babetown workshop, I am already signed up to instruct at the next 2 Babetown workshops in Idaho and Maine in 2018 and I am so beyond blessed for these experiences. I am so incredibly excited to meet up with my buddies and help inspire and educate other photographers to do the things that make their soul happy.
On the last day, I was watching my new friend Jessica teaching her course on Self-Portraiture (while sitting in a copper tub, mind you) and I was moved to tears. It is such an honor to be able to see people speak with such passion about their lives. It made me happy to be surrounded by people who are just as motivated as I am to never settle for the status quo. The coolest thing was, that almost all of the instructors spoke about their journey to their niche in photography and what set them apart and it was the fact that they were able to see the good in the struggles of their lives. I like to reference it as turning their kryptonite into their superpower....because it's in their vulnerability of sharing themselves and their passion for working through "the mud" and sharing this with their communities that they have become successful and well known in their industry. It has nothing to do with their camera equipment, the amount of $$$ they bring in with their business, or how long they have been doing photography...it has everything to do with the fact that each instructor literally throws their whole being, heart, and soul into their work and into inspiring and helping others in the industry. I am beyond privileged to be part of this Babetown crew.
In addition to all the inspiration, photography, and creativity, there was A LOT of play time. We did a Facebook Live for the Babetown crew where we had to ask each other questions, but it really only resulted in Chad and I deciding we need to have our own podcast, we got lost LITERALLY every time we drove home from the studios (but in doing so had the privilege of seeing the NYC skyline and Time Square multiple times), I got to eat some chicken and waffles, I photographed my babely instructor friends (their shoots to come later!), and of course, we learned that maaaaybe you shouldn't host a mixer the night before the first day of teaching and instead, perhaps should leave it until the last night to avoid epic hangovers and regret.
I always say the sign of a good workshop is when I come home with laryngitis and a sore stomach from laughing so hard, and Babetown DEFINITELY delivered both of those! Is it April or May yet??? I will stop babbling now and inundate you with photos from the amazingness that was The Safehouse Workshop. If you are a photographer and want to get in on this amazingness, you can check out the other Safehouse Workshops here and come see me in Maine or Idaho (or both, heh heh heh).
