Yan Fam Way Workshop Review

A while ago, purely by accident I stumbled upon Melanie Leighton’s review of the workshop with Yan Palmer. I remember thinking that there was likely a very little chance for me to ever get to such workshop. I can’t even remember why I was thinking this way, but now looking back at the dates it was probably because we just recently moved to Australia from Canada with our 2 year old son and I was pregnant with my daughter, and my husband was a full time student. We were here on a student visa and would potentially be moving back to Canada, so any kinds of endeavours like that weren’t in the cards for me at that time.

Fast forward just over a year and one of my fellow photographer friends asks if I’ve heard of Yan and if I’d be interested to attend her workshop! Talk about the power of thought! Of course, I had to sign up and I am glad I did.

You see, I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason, even if that reason isn’t obvious to you straight away… So here is the preamble to the whole workshop review:

Our whole move to Australia was pretty spontaneous. First we came to explore, the next thing we knew my husband decided to applied to school and change his career. First we came for school and then decided to stay. For a while there my husband was a full-time student and working part-time. It was really a no brainer for me to start my photography business because child care is so expensive in Australia and it was very important for me to make sure our son is well adjusted and has full access to at least one of his parents.

During these months I happened to realise some important things. I used to always be a person who needed to have security, needed to know what will happen next and needed to be in control. After our move across the globe, I found myself excited getting rid of STUFF and packing our things, I was completely content NOT knowing what’s next and I was just stupidly happy for no apparent reason. Back in Canada I quit my well paid job with great benefits, left my amazing team and here I was unemployed, but oh so happy. It was very strange. Very unusual. But I just went with the flow. Time went on and I noticed more changes in myself – it felt like everything was literally upside down for me. In a good way. I still don’t know what’s next, but I am enjoying this wild and crazy ride. Many things changed since then but one thing for sure – I would never regret that crazy decision to move far away from family in search of our calling.

You may ask me now what it has to do with the workshop review? It’s quite straight forward really – one of the main messages from Yan’s workshop is to stay true to who you are and listen to your gut. She openly says she had no idea what she was doing when she started but the power of intuition is so strong it can lead you to where you are meant to be if you only give in to it and trust it wholeheartedly.

To me, Yan was a conductor reconfirming that I am heading in the right direction. Her review of my portfolio was so spot on – she instantly picked up the two things I need to concentrate my attention on. She provided some invaluable feedback in such a loving manner that makes you feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside. She is such a ray of sunshine. That can see you from the inside. All the little things. And she’s so brutally honest. About everything. Just like I love it in real life!

It was amazing going through the actual family session with Yan and seeing her interact with the children. She’s got tricks up her sleeve for anyone and I was practically mesmerised watching her glide through the session with so much humour, grace, confidence and love. Love towards all human beings! 

Here are some of the images I snapped during the workshop

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Melbourne Family Photographer