GPP2016 Dubai Photo Week **Update 1.28.16: The panel discussion for A Force For Good: Photography and Philanthropy is now sold out. My Dynamic Family Photography workshop is now sold out. There are only a couple spots left in the Children's Portrait Photography workshop and only limited space left for my platform presentation. From February 5th through the 12th, I’ll be traveling to the United Arab Emirates for the Gulf Photo Plus 2016 Dubai Photo Week. This is a week full of

Rangefinder Magazine Redefined Column - and a Q&A Session It is quite cool to be showcased in the brand new January, 2016 issue of Rangefinder Magazine - for a couple of reasons. First of all, because it's a more personal interview, in general, and it was conducted by Rangefinder's talented Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Tobin. But also because, starting in February, I will actually be the one writing this column! The essence of this Redefined column is in keeping with the fo

Happy Holidays to you and yours! My kids picked out the reindeer suit for our Mugsy. They said he'd love it. But - and I'm just taking a wild shot in the dark here - I'm thinking that maybe he doesn't completely share their enthusiasm. I was so honored and touched by all of the responses to our Good News Post. I linked out to each and every story, video, post and news story. And I teared up about 15 times. GOOD tears, though. Redemp tion-type tears. So, being able to read

The Good News Post & a $150 Adorama Giveaway This can be a stressful time of year for a lot of people (especially photographers!). Knowing this, I recently shared this image on my Facebook page of an iridescent hummingbird I photographed because, as a spirit animal, they symbolize enjoyment of life, lightness of being, being present, the lifting up of negativity, and resiliency. (I know all of this only because I read it here.) But it feels right. : ) The wonderful team a

reDefine Show Episodes with Vanessa Joy, Jason Groupp, and three special episodes featuring relevant photography topics with Tamara Lackey During the latter part of 2015, I have been fortunate to participate in a myriad of interesting educational opportunities. Today, I wanted to share the latest episodes of the reDefine show I’ve recorded in that time period. Most recently, I taped a few episodes that deal with photography topics we all struggle with from time to time. The f

GO Summit 2016 - Street Smarts for Creative Entrepreneurs I am excited to announce that I will be speaking at the Converge GO Summit this January 8-10th in Southern California. Run by the GoBe Collective, the summit is a gathering of creative entrepreneurs designed to talk about business and the challenges they face. I have always found business to be nearly just as fascinating as art - and partly because there is a real art to running a smart small business, which is why I t

What Vegans Eat: A Week of Plant-Based Meals Or: Vegan? Wait, like, nothing from animals?? But what, EXACTLY, do you eat? Recently, I shared a week of vegan meals on my Facebook Page. Since then, I've answered a lot of questions and have been asked by more than a few people if they could reference my posts in an easier way. So I'm pulling all those posts together into one big blog post here. I think times really are changing in the meatless landscape - not just all the recen

Beautiful Together Feeding Fund is grateful to partner with Life To Live for Korah, working to feed the children in Korah, Ethiopia. One of the more impactful experiences we had on our last trip to Ethiopia was spending a couple of rather meaningful days in Korah. We not only visited but were able to see the whole village, all the way around and through, and spend time inside more than a couple of makeshift homes, greeted with extraordinarily warm hospitality. We met orphans

2015 PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo in New York City Today officially kicks off the 2015 PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo at the Javits Convention Center in NYC. The conference runs from today (October 21st) until October 24th, with the Expo starting tomorrow - October 22nd. I am honored to be included in a few programs over the next four days, and I love meeting up with so many friends in the industry. I also am excited to speak on behalf of some

An Update on Lush Albums - Photo Albums by Tamara Lackey for the Portrait Photographer We had our first soft release of our beautiful Lush Albums in April of this year, and I wanted to share a quick update on how things have been going. Like some of the best things in life, getting to this point has been a journey. We started with an idea in December of 2013 and, along the way, built every aspect of having this line up and ready to go. So to now have them in production and be

Tamara Lackey's Family Posing Playbook is released! In October 2012, I released my first Posing Playbook, focused on Kids Who Don’t Do Posing. Since then, my team and I have received some pretty wonderful feedback and quite a few requests for a family-focused version. And, while it only took three years, I finally finished writing one - and the Family Posing Playbook is now officially available for purchase! (Download Here!) This new posing guide is aimed very squarely at pho

Upcoming Mentor Series Workshop with Popular Photography Magazine and Nikon - Tuscon, Arizona I am so looking forward to joining Popular Photography Magazine and Nikon as an upcoming instructor in one of their Popular Photography Mentor Series programs. “The Mentor Series travels to dramatic, vibrant and cultural destinations creating a hands-on learning experience out in the field.” Although I've done several photo trips, this will be my first time leading a program with thi

San Francisco Portrait Photography Workshop & CreativeLIVE Photo Week I’m thrilled to spend a few very busy days in San Francisco this week. I love San Francisco - we used to live here before we moved to Chapel Hill and we come back fairly often. This time, I’m here for the last 3-day Portrait Photographer’s Workshop of 2015. I’m excited to work with a group of such talented and creative photographers. Then, on Friday, I’m off to Seattle for a quick visit with Creative Live t

Lighting Classrooms & Education Center Repairs - BeautifulTogether.org We are so grateful to have completed renovating the orphanage bathrooms in Ethiopia – the children living there now have clean, safe bathrooms with new toilets, lovely sinks, updated plumbing, and (my favorite) hand sanitizers! These newly renovated bathrooms have made a big improvement in the orphanage. We are also currently finishing up our last project, Safeguarding The Orphanage, which we've heard is

Beautiful Together's Orphanage Bathroom Renovation: Officially Completed!! We are thrilled to announce that the orphanage bathroom renovation that has been in process for nearly two months is finally, totally, beautifully completed!! When we first announced this Beautiful Together project, we weren't sure exactly how long it would take or what kind of complications we might run into, but much of the work was done before we traveled to Ethiopia, and it was done well - so whe

When we founded Beautiful Together, our 501(c)(3) all-volunteer, non-profit organization focused on supporting children without families, we knew that one of the benefits of doing this type of work would be meeting others who were doing similar work. We knew we would want to partner with a few key organizations and have found that it has been a surprisingly natural process to determine who that would be. We are currently partnering with two organizations. One of our partners

Best Gallery Opening EVER. Last week I wrote about my concept for a portrait photography gallery for the Kidane Mehret orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. And I spent two full weeks photographing the approximately 65 children who live in this orphanage with the intention of creating this gallery, feeling a strong desire to create it for a few reasons. First, one of the things I noticed from my experience photographing children in orphanages is that although they may know to

Beautiful Together - New Portrait Project As you may know, I’ve been in Ethiopia for the past week and a half working on renovating a bathroom inside an orphanage for our Beautiful Together non-profit. It has been an amazing experience so far, with our days filled with hard work of all kinds. I’ve been trying to update on my Facebook page, Twitter, and my Instagram feed, but Internet has been spotty at best! I wanted to give a small update on the blog and share another BIG pr

Portrait Photography Workshops: San Francisco I am so excited to announce the location of my San Francisco 3-day Portrait Photographer’s Workshop on September 22-24, 2015! Big thanks to all those who were patiently awaiting the location - we looked at quite a number of spots all around the Bay Area, but ultimately we went with a super cool spot right in downtown San Francisco. Although this last one of our portrait photography workshops (for the year) is nearly full, we stil

In the newest episode of the reDefine Show, I spoke with seriously talented photographer Mike Corrado on creating dynamic images. Mike has been a photographer for over 36 years, including 30 years working with Nikon. He has traveled around the world capturing stories in many countries, in addition to his explosive and fascinating sports and music photography. In our discussion, he dives deep into the importance of looking for impact, energy, and emotion when trying to create