Hi everyone, I am Kati Lawson and I am taking over the blog today so I can brag on Brandi because you know she won’t do it herself, even though she is awesome. I am from Okeechobee, and I now teach undergraduate communication and leadership development classes for the University of Florida in Plant City, Florida.

What do you do when you need to teach photography skills to your undergraduate students, but you don’t have the experience you need to create a great lesson? You call in the big guns.

Or rather you casually call said big guns and ask her how to teach aperture and depth-of-field, all while silently sending positive vibes into the universe hoping she will take pity on you and come teach the class herself.

It worked. The Brandi Watford drove her amazing self 2 HOURS each way to the University of Florida CALS IFAS Plant City location to teach my students. I can’t explain how impactful Brandi is as an instructor. She taught my students concepts in 2 hours that I had been struggling to teach for two weeks.

I have always looked up to Brandi, she is such a badass with the kindest heart. I was so excited she offered to create a workshop for my students that I forgot to mention they voted to have a pajama day. They are all over 20, but pajamas are fun to wear to school at any age, am I right?

The funny thing is, I wasn’t worried to tell Brandi she would be teaching pajama-wearing students during her workshop. I wasn’t worried because I know Brandi has the best sense of humor. She welcomed my students, unicorn onesies and all.

Brandi patiently took my students through the ropes of how to pose subjects, how to calibrate depth of field, how to shoot in manual, and of course, how to find beautiful light.

Brandi can now add “influential instructor” to her list of accolades. I appreciate her more than she knows and I know a lot of you feel the same way.