In November, I co-hosted a weekend photography workshop with my friend and photographer Devan Whitson. It was a fun weekend of teaching and learning, and I met a lot of wonderful people that share my passion for photography! This is post 1 of 2, tomorrow I will share some of the model shots that I took. Today, though, I focus on the workshop and the photographers that came.
I talked a lot about my own history in photography that weekend, and my inspiration and “ah ha” moments. I went to a workshop myself two and a half years ago in Mexico with Jose Villa, Jesh DeRox, and Dennis Orchard. Those 5 days changed my life, not just as a photographer, but also as a person. I came home and completely changed my business. I learned that shooting what I love is more important than anything else, and I spent the next year focusing primarily on weddings. I’ve taken risks and learned a lot of new things, and hope to be able to inspire other photographers to find what they love and make things happen.
On Friday, we all met for the first time, and spent the evening going over the technical side of photography – aperture, shutter speed, exposing, etc. Saturday was hands-on experience, letting the participants work with models in a stress-free environment, where they didn’t have to worry about clients and paying customers. We were all able to share and help each other, and everyone could get their questions answered as they shot. That afternoon, we split into two groups. Devan led a group on Photoshop, and I led a second shooting session with a family in a loft in downtown Burlington. We played around with OCF, or off-camera flash, and took some awesome group shots!
On Sunday, we had a wrap-up session, and all of the participants had the opportunity to have professional headshots taken by Devan and me. We ended the weekend with a delicious lunch at Great River Grille (big thanks to Geno for the wonderful accommodations all weekend for the workshop) and a slideshow of the different iamges taken by the photographers. It’s always interesting how so many different people can see the same situation so many different ways!
Here are a few shots from the weekend.
Annie being an awesome model!
A few of the photographers in attendance
Stephanie Standard
Tina Starnes, Reflected Memories Photography
Kelly Comstock-Stevens, Forever Photography
A huge thank you to all the wonderful people that came and made this weekend so great! I had a great time meeting all of you, and look forward to seeing your work in the future!.
