John and Ali Hohn

I started photography in 2006 when my daughter Anna was two months old.  I don't know what got into me to start right after having a baby but for some reason I wanted to do better for her.  We were living in a small townhouse for a couple years and was shooting in my garage.  We live in Minnesota so there was only so much time to have in there before it got really cold.  Anyway, that winter when Anna was 6 months old I started teaching myself studio lighting.  I think I photographed her so much that I may have created the photographer's child syndrome affect.  Now, I only photograph her a couple times a year.  

I was growing my business as a photographer and then I was really frustrated with my style and I was looking at everyone's photos thinking I wasn't good enough.  I decided to put away all the photography forums and different things and just concentrate on who I was.  I remember seeing one specific photo right before I did this and I was wondering how in the world they had acheived it.  I asked a friend of mine and he told me it was Off Camera Flash. I didn't have a clue what that was! So I tried reading as much as I could on it and it made absolutely no sense.  I'm an extrememly visual and hands on learner.  You put a whole bunch of text in front of me with ratios and numbers my mind just goes blank.  

So that summer I started teaching myself off camera flash.  After many many sessions and with much frustration, I finally 'got it'.  I remember I was out in a field with one of my seniors and once it finally clicked in my brain I was jumping for joy.  Yes, I brought out paying customers while I was learning.  I asked them beforehand if I could just try it and they were cool.  So that's kind of how Rock that OCF started.  I traveled to Australia and to many states and Canada in about a two year period.  After a while, I realized that I couldn't keep doing this. My daughter was about to start kindergarten and she couldn't just go to grandma and grandpa's for a few days while mom went traveling to teach.  So that's kind of what birthed Rock the Drops. 

I was in Utah teaching another workshop and I met a new friend and he was showing me all of his stuff at his studio.  He had a printer and I was just like oh man I have been thinking of getting one of these but they are pretty expensive...  Literally, the very next morning I was on my iPad looking at craigslist and there was a listing for a printer.  I was like wow what are the odds of this.  I looked at the listing and it was the exact same printer as my friend had and the bonus part was the guy that was selling it was only 25 minutes away from me. I immediately emailed him said I wanted to come see it and that i would be back in town in a couple days. 

I then bought my first printer from this guy.  I was ecstatic but not knowing a thing on how to use it.  We got it to my studio and I started testing out different papers etc.  I originally was just going to print drops for myself and some of my closest girlfriends.  I had started to make a website that would just get by.  Then I saw another printer from a company and I honestly really prayed about this one b/c this was a sum of money I had never spent on anything in my life. It was a huge leap of faith.  My husband told me to go for it. I took the leap and bought the second printer.  We are constantly growing and changing, and cannot wait to see what the future brings to us!