I don’t think I can ever truly convey just how honoured and humbled I was to be asked to teach at Click Away. I felt like I was a small-fry member of the ClickinMoms community, a misfit who had a style of photography so different to what everyone else was producing. Someone who lived a life less outside of conventional norms, who globe trotted and captured her kids as she went, who went to some weird and whacky countries (I mean right after Click Away I went to Cuba and then Iran, like seriously, what must the predominantly American students have thought of me? Clearly off my rocker right?!!!) So anyway, when I was asked to present some workshops and classes I was humbled, and terrified!!! I hadn’t really taught photography before, not beyond doing “Moms Photography Classes in Abu Dhabi” type things.

But OH! MY! GOSH!!!!!! I LOVED it!!!! I loved the students, I loved the other instructors, I loved the community and surprisingly to me I FREAKING LOVED TEACHING!!!!!!! I left on a total, total high! It was the most uplifting and empowering thing I had ever been to – it was all about girl power, and people believing in the importance of what we do as Mothers, Females, Women photographers. And that felt SO GOOD. I can’t wait to teach more in future.

Here are a few photos from my classes. I got to lead a travel photography walk around Salt Lake City, run classroom sessions on both “Travelling with your kids” and “Working on the Go” plus a walk/demo of my style of lifestyle photography, that y girls came to with me.  My girls were also lucky enough to model for the amazing Summer Murdock, a photographer whose work I have quietly fan-girled on for quite some time. Meeting ladies like her and MeRe Koh and Kate T Parker and Sarah Wilkinson, plus so many other inspirational people doing amazing things for our industry just made me want to get out there and do more, be more, share more. Another HUUUUUGE honour for me was to see my award winning images on display. It was almost beyond my wildest dreams when I entered the VOICE competition, but to my own disbelief I was the winner of the “Street category” for my picture of my kids in Paris, and a 2 time runner up in the Photo Essay Category – one of a journey on a train through India, and the second of a morning at the camel races in Abu Dhabi. 

Thanks for reading this… I know I gush, but what an experience – and maybe the start of a new direction for me – to share my love of photography by teaching and inspiring more mums like me that capturing their kids is of value, that I believe in it, and that I believe in them…. Thankyou ClickinMoms, I can’t wait to see where your belief in me takes me next… Kirsty xx