Wednesday I had the chance to help my friends Hanssie and Garrett out at the Socal LA Photog Shootout workshop at the Ebell Club in Long Beach. The theme was “wedding day” and all the participants rotated through five stations that included The Engagement, Getting Ready, The Ceremony, Bridals, and the Romantics. I helped lead the Bridals portion of the morning and I had a blast with everyone! The cool thing about Photog Shootouts is there’s absolutely no pressure to get the “perfect picture”… and it’s a completely safe place for new photographers to ask questions and experiment in different techniques they’d like to develop more.
The model assigned to be the bride had a name that fit her beautifully… her name was Phoenix. How cool is that name? (for those of you from camp who are currently gawking at the irony of a model named Phoenix being assigned to my station while my guy Christopher …with the camp name “Phoenix” … is gone for the summer… don’t worry… it took me a second to process it myself, before I just chuckled at His sense of humor and moved on to the shoot.) Phoenix was pretty much a dream to work with. Not only was she gorgeous, but she was very good at trying to play the role of a bride who has no idea how to look on her wedding day. In addition, she was so gracious and patient with all the photographer who came through the station and did everything that was asked of her with enthusiasm and elegance! The day wasn’t as much about me shooting as it was about making myself available for tips and providing a learning environment for the participants… so I didn’t get many shots, but here are a few to give you a taste of what the workshop was like…
There were a couple other photographers that helped out that day… and I wish I could have snuck into some of their teaching sections…. maybe next time ;). Thanks to all who contributed to the day, to the preparations and planning, and all those who made the learning experience so valuable! 🙂 Till next time…
