As I am still editing away so many shots of wonderful moments of photo sessions in Las Vegas during WPPI, I must take a break and tell you about a Christian Retreat I will be speaking this upcoming June. This retreat is called Point of Creation and it is an avenue where creative christian women can come together to explore their creative side, learn how to tap it into the business side with an overall goal to make you a better woman, a happier woman. I am so inspired by the founder of Point of Creation Yadira Laguerre, you might remember her from a previous post where I had done a lifestyle session with her. She is so vibrant and her smile lights up the city, I feel so honored and blessed to be asked to speak on the topic of branding and marketing and can not wait for this big ole girlie girl reunion. Registration is now open so I encourage you to grab your tickets fast.

Here is my Fuse Interviews Yadira Laguerre on Point of Creation Retreat-

The retreat is scheduled for the weekend of June 4-6 in Lake Pleasant, NY.  The cost is $299 which includes lodging, buffet style meals, interactive business workshops and all of the camp’s amenities (pool, beachfront, gym, sports complex, etc).  We even have an optional Challenge Course planned which is an obstacle course for team building and confronting your fears (think climbing a high pole and jumping).  I’m really looking forward to that!  Women who are interested can view the full weekend itinerary and register right online by visiting www.poc-retreat.yadiralaguerre.com Registrations paid in full before March 15th will receive a professional image/styling consultation and professional headshot by me to go with it (I moonlight as a photographer and graphic artist).  Tarsha Gibbons is our Image Consultant and she is amazing.

6) How is this retreat different than other retreats?

There are spiritual retreats and there are business conventions; this merges the two and throws in some girly fun.  Women of all ages stretch themselves too thin, doing things for everyone else while ignoring what is in their own hearts to accomplish.  This retreat will force you to stop and listen to what is in your own spirit, to hear the voice of God in a fresh way and be instructed by women just like you.  All our speakers will be rooming together with our guests.  It is not an “us” and “them” kind of weekend where there is an invisible wall between those that teach and those that take the notes.  We’re all in this boat together.  Let’s learn from each other.

Yadira thanks so much for such a great interview.

Here are some pixs of Yadira I had taken and stay tuned for for of my Las Vegas Photo adventures.

and here are some mobile uploads of the view from my room in Vegas, just some teasers-

Signature Hotel in Las Vegas, NV owned by MGM.

Las Vegas Fashion Shoot at Studio 54 hosted by Kiss Wedding Books

FIND ME- fusioncreations@hotmail.com

It has been now almost 16 months that I embarked on this adventure called photography and more importantly found myself, the photographer Feuza. When I started I had so many questions, I was so lost and I looked up to Paula Leme, a fellow Brazilian Photographer and I asked for some advice, some tips, anything she could tell me. She told me the most 2 important pieces of advice which helped really launch my business. She nicely replied, #1 Take control of your camera, your camera can not do what it wants but needs to do what you want it to do, tip #2 find other photographers you like and follow them, read their blog because they tend to give out lots of info and she listed 3 photographers but there was one that stood out, there was one that silence struck and everything stopped and I could hear a pin drop and it was the one and only Jasmine Star Blog. After reading the first few lines I was hooked as so many of us are and I soaked up her words like a sponge and there perhaps at that point I knew it, I knew it but I hid it, even tried to hide it from myself, a little secret, a little voice I heard inside saying “I want to be the East Coast Jasmine Star”. I never said those words out loud until recently when my photography mentor David Toth ( all newbies need mentors and David has made my year by second shooting with me on my first destination wedding next month  ) asked me who inspired me, who did I want to be like and I began throwing names left and right saying things like  I dig so and so’s style and so and so’s sharp no action images and recently found such and such blog and then I said it, I mean I wrote it and it was just the answer David was waiting to hear, all the other ones were not good enough, were not right and he knew it!  I took a deep breath, I said, my goal is to be the East Coast Jasmine Star.

Now you might be thinking , um I don’t think so Feuza, how can you compare your self to her? Don’t worry, I don’t have a dog named pollo and  my husband does not second shoot my weddings and I do not write beautifully and have amazing sharp images but hear me out for a minute, I do not want to be Jasmine, you see there is only one Jasmine Star and not even her identical twin Bianca who looks a lot like her can be her. I am not trying to copy Jasmine, nor copy her work or poses but I do want to follow her business model, have her organization, not be in debt to fully launch my business, outsource some things, improve my images, improve my writing , spend quality time with God and with my family, and perhaps make up my own words here and there. You see we are very differant, only similarities are from Latino background, married, woman, and a photographer, she is not in her thirties nor has kids, and it is quite differant background and story but  I would say pay attention to successful people because they have something in common, something to teach and your ears should listen. I know where I want to go, I see it, I smell and I taste it and I want to have the freedom and the good life Jasmine and other well known photographers have.  I want to dicatate my schedule, I want car rides on sunny days to beautiful shores, I want simple things that make me smile, I want to give my boys the best,  I want to work less and play more, I want the good life and what is wrong with that? There is a road to success, how fast will you get there? You see if you want to be good at something, you must look at the people who are great at, it,success leaves clues they say and Jasmine leaves us readers every week many clues on what we need to move forward, examples, ideas, smug meetings and more. My goal is to be an East Coast Jasmine in the sense of a sucess photography story in short amount of time. I do not have time to waste and I will say it again, I know where I want to go and I know who I am, do you? Do you write down your goals? Did you know that people who wrote down their goals succeed far more than people who did not? Have you written down how much money you want to earn a week, a year? You see because as Mile Sings it, it is about the climb but if you do not know what you want on the other side, how do you know which mountain or ladder to even start that climb? or will you just sit there at the foothills or steps waiting for something miraculous to happen? What do you want? Tonight’s meeting with Lawrence from Tofurious started out by Lawrence showing us their new t-shirt and he said, who wants to get this t-shirt? almost no one said yes afraid of having to play some game but the person who said I do, he just handed it to her. Ask and you shall receive! Are we asking? My mother the other day was telling me of all great men and women from the Bible that received great things and victories and they all had 1 thing in common, they or someone else declared that such a thing would happen and I am declaring my success right now, not fame and not such fortune, but success, oh yes success and a good life for me and my family because they deserve it. Life has already so many trials, bumps, rocks, detours, is it not even worse not to know where you are going? Define it, define you because it is about you.

There is only one Feuza, actually right now perhaps there are 3 in the world, use to be one more but my grandma passed away two years ago, so there is a friend of a friend and a cousin of someone and a girl from Malaysia which I saw on My Space once but there is only one Feuza Reis Photographer, only one Feuza Reis mother of Josh and Lucas, wife of Max, only one Feuza daughter of Jorge and Jaira, Brazilian Immigrant who was raised by her mom, only one Rutgers graduate who did nothing with her degree except acquire college loans, only one and that is me and I am determined to rise, with bumps and bruises but to move forward even against strong winds. My goal is to be the East Coast Jasmine Star and maybe you wanted that as well but never had the courage to say it. Now it is out! I want to succeed and to be free and I want people to say who the heck is that girl and where did she come from so fast and I am sure some will criticize this blog post or think negative things of me, but I do not care, when I first started, I cared, I cared which other photographer was starting out, who was better than me and now I have gone passed those things because than the focus is the work and not the photographer.

Why do people love Jasmine so much? Because her images are perfect, out of this world, unique blow your mind away every time? No, not at all but because she is. Jasmine brings it on every single time and there is only one her, there is only one me and there is only one you and as you improve your photography or any other business, think about who that you is, where does that you want to go and what does that you bring to the table and since  pictures make blog posts so much better, here are a few more of me on my Brazilian Day Canada adventures.

The Afro-Brazilian Legend composer and singer Carlinhos Brown signing autographs

My favorite Brazilian TV presenter Luciano Huck

The one and only Elba Ramalho- MPB music LegendCarol from DigitallyBlonde.com

FIND ME- fusioncreations@hotmail.com

A couple of months ago I found out that Canada would be hosting it’s first Brazilian Day ever and a thought came to my mind shared with my husband who thought it was brilliant, or was it his idea first, hum, not sure but the idea was of me being there to register this historical moment. Nearby in NY Brazilian Day has been happening for the last 25 years and it gathers over 1 million people in the streets of Little Brazil with their yellow and green colors, paintings, flags, music and joy. Well so with the opportunity in history in the making with a launch of new festival in a foreign nearby country, why not? I then got connected with the organers of the event and contacted some local Brazilian Portuguese Newspapers who were interested in the story and voila la, I was on the road to shoot my first international event so I thought. I finally heard back from the organizers asking for my number and became very excited but soon the idea faded as I  never had any return and thought I was denied to go but to my surprise last Thursday or was it Wednesday, not sure it all happened so fast, I received an email from the P.R of the event asking confirmation of my presence at the press conference with Carlinhos Brown ( Brazilian Composer and Singer), Elba Ramalho ( a legend in MPB and incredible performer) and my favorite all time Brazilian T.V host Luciano Huck as well as TV Globo’s CEO, Amauri Soares, The event took place at Younge and Dundas Square at the heart of Toronto and it was an amazing experience, so many emotions, lots of green and yellow, and lots of faces with  the ever famous word, saudade. My heart is pumping gratefulness for the opportunity to be in Canada for the first time, the hospitality was incredible and I really saw how multicultural Toronto is and of course, I was thankful  to meet these very well known Brazilian artists as well as to attend the V.I.P Hardrock Cafe Party and all the backstage craziness. So my labor day weekend consisted of a wedding Max and I shot on Friday, cleaning the house and doing some shopping on Saturday aka crazy running around, early flight Sunday to Toronto, Sightseeing in Toronto, miles of walking around then Monday, Brazilian Day Canada and Tuesday back to the USA. 

 I have tons and tons of images to go through but I had to update my blog on this fantastic labor day weekend and to tell you that you can achieve your dreams and aspirations, you have to envision it, believe in it even if circumstances tell you otherwise. I remembered that I said to my self loudly, I am going to be there and it happened and God is good. Here is just a sneak peak because the pictures will speak louder than words.

Coconut Water to hydrate for the day, the most expensive Coconut ever but was worth it.

Bear with me folks, lots of pixs to post with these back to back portrait sessions lately

Two weeks ago, I had the honor to photo shoot for the first time, a child’s baptism. I had not been to one in a very long time, as a kid maybe so was not sure exactly on what to expect. The family consists of mommy Ana, Daddy David and little Maria. In Portuguese tradition, baptism is a huge event, even bigger than birthday parties and perhaps even bigger than sweet 16 at least for the parents they are. Ana contacted me for the event and we scheduled a mini session before the big day with little Maria. When they arrived for some studio shots, Maria was like a typical 2 year old, curious, happy and wanted to check out the territory. Once Ana changed her into her beautiful pearlie dress, it was downhill, little Maria started crying and would not stay by the back drop to take pictures. I was like, wow I am done, did not even start, this has never happened to me, the crying got louder and I was like ok, stay calm.  We tried giving her some of my boys toys, planes to be exact, and she liked that but she did not want to go in front of the backdrop, or perhaps in front of my camera. The JC Penny days starting ringing my memory, crying kids scared of the big camera thing which had a clown face around it and I did everything I could to make them smile,oh no not that again.

Luckily,I had had the idea of going outside to a nearby grassy area and I mentioned this as soon as they arrived. So when the crying increased, I was like ok, option B. Happily though, daddy David called Maria and both mommy and daddy asked Maria to show us her little teeth and she did and I was clicking away. I really did not think I would get any pictures but it was the shortest studio session ever. We then headed for outdoors when Ana could run freely and smile away, she played with white and pink rose petals, yanking them from root and tossing them in the air, poor little flowers but that is what 2 years old do and we played peek a boo and then more smiles and even a bunny visit. I was so relieved. Here are a few shots as well as the poster montage I did for the entrance of the event as well as some getting ready shots, did I mention it was like a wedding? Getting Ready session, Church, Reception, the works. Felt blessed to be there with this beautiful family.

Presents from her God Father…

So I find out there is a NY Photo Festival and I am like I am totally in.I signed up for some digital day classes and Friday comes and I am all over the place, with kids, work to be done and gotta hit Brooklyn for these classes. I rush out the door, no time to grab a DD iced coffee since I still needed to add gas to the car, so I settled for a Wawa iced coffee. I head to a place I had never been before, a place with an odd name, DUMBO. It actually stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge. It is a beautiful warm Friday Afternoon, the sun is out, crows of people are walking and strolling by and there I see it, the colorful signs for the NY Photo Festival and I got so giddy and excited to be around that vibe, to be around others like me who are passionate about photography, passionate about people and awesome places such as DUMBO. I find the building which is a warehouse and there I sit with not too many others, put I see and look at the screen and listen attentively to the teacher who was covering basic stuff but stuff  I so need to learn and it is times like these where I feel like wow,I am so far away from the photography that I want, from the control that I want, I really know nothing  and think for a split second, are people really booking with me cause after all I am such a rookie and at times  I really mess up big time. But the excitement takes over, the excitement of making it better and better and better and to follow the path I have found with mistakes like blurriness, over exposure, distortion and all! The important thing is to not leave the path cause the rest will fall into it’s place eventually