I have a bad habit at workshops I have found – I tend to shoot the photographers I’m with just as much as the couples – and I love it. In Hawaii I not only had some amazing couples to play with but some super fun photographers as well that […]
Our other couple on our fist day of shooting in Hawaii was Joelle and Andrew. They are a real-life couple in Hawaii that arne’t quite engaged yet but the topic has came up often. They are such a young and fun couple that were perfectly happy roaming around downtown Lahaina […]
Last week I had the amazing expeience of taking a workshop with David Beckstead, one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the United States. He is just simply awesome. I learned SO much from him and he was the nicest person. Very friendly and easy to get along with. The workshop was hosted by Cat McKinley whom was just the best hostess ever. I can’t rave enough about this workshop, it was THAT good. By far the best money I’ve spent towards my education in photography. We went to some fantastic places in Akron and Cleveland with our model brides – the Akron Civic Theater, Stan Hywet and The Arcade in Cleveland. We also did a quick jaunt around downtown with our bride as well. The best of the best (IMHO) of what I shot is below. Beware it is very picture heavy!
Thanks so much to David for being such a wonderful teacher and Cat for setting everything up!
WPPI offers classes before the big convention starts called Plus Classes that are essentially workshops with various photographers. This year’s classes were made up of 8 of the top photographers in the field, with 20 students per class, focusing for two days on their personal expertise in photography. I chose Mike Colón because I adore his work, he shoots Nikon (which is what I shoot) and I felt that I could learn a lot from him. I felt that our shooting styles were very much similar when it comes to shooting so I really felt that I could learn a lot from this amazing photographer.
The classes bascially were about the basics of photography and learning how to find and shoot natural light correctly. Each day we had a morning session of learning the craft and the afternoons were spent with models implementing what we learned during the day. The first day we had Jen & Adam as our models and the second day we had Krystal & Adam (same guy, different gals) as our models. I feel that I learned a lot from Mike – especially when it comes to determing light sources! I also learned how to pay attention more to what is in the background that could be potentially distracting when shooting. He also had his assistant/friend/sidekick Ray Santana along with him for the class and I also learned a lot from Ray.
I felt bad for both guys though who were mystified with my manners. When it comes to fighting 20 people for a shot, I’m the first to bow out. I got elbowed in the head a few times and someone hit me with their lens (some of these lenses aren’t light! ow!). Photography isn’t a contact sport in my world so I chose to go for the odd angles and try and get what I can. Both Ray & Mike by the second day were trying to not be great teachers but were also shoving me in for the good shots and looking out for me. They were both fantastic. I can’t say enough things about them. Anyone that gets a chance to take Mike’s workshop absolutely should!!
Below are some shots I got during the two-day class!
