I was supposed to hold a workshop in April, but like everything else, COVID had us postpone a bit. It ended up being better further down the line because weather tends to be a bit more predictable in the future rather than the spring. However, because of this, I also split the group into 2, to reduce the amount of people and also to be a bit more available for people. I have also mentored 4 people outside of the workshop who needed to be a bit more isolated due to other underlying conditions [with the virus].
I guess after this, if we are being real, I paid more for the workshop than I charged, but I do LOVE teaching, and honestly if I can protect people more, or be accomodating, I will always choose that. The workshop days both went differently. The first one occurred at the end of May. I had a good group of people [both numerical wise, and talent wise in general]. We had a pretty loaded conversation prior to the workshop and discussed a variety of helpful topics. The first day it was also a bit more shady, so we actually ended up going over posing, movement, and backgrounds a bit more than I intended, but it ended up being rather beneficial.
when peaks of light would come out we would discuss harsh lighting and the different techniques you take when photographing in it. It really is about committing to the light, to go all in. So that was SUPER helpful to show those techniques. Other things we discussed were how bounce lighting really saves an image – and more so, makes it easier to post process later. My biggest thing is getting it right in camera. If you can nail lighting in camera, the post processing isn’t as daunting as it CAN be if you decide you can just ‘fix it later’.
[The last two is with and without a reflector, if you wanna see a visual].
We also went over some studio lighting, event lighting and back flash stuff too!
June 3rd was the other day I held a workshop [along with 4 more independent meetings that week and the following]. We had sun the whole time so we really got to expand on lighting available. This group, however, I only had 5 come, so it was a bit more intimate – which allowed for some more personal questions and situations.
photo by samantharuthphotos 
photo by samantharuthphotos 
photo by samantharuthphotos 
photo by samantharuthphotos 
Image by Rebeccalphotography 
Also because this was a smaller group I made each of them eventually sit in front of my camera for documentation – and made them break apart in groups a bit more since I had a bit more time.
In July [8-11], I am hosting another workshop which will be a bit more like the second workshop I held on June 3rd, meaning it’ll be a bit more intimate. We will be staying around Traverse City, hanging out all day and night and covering MANY more topics than just lighting. Really it’s about breaking the time we have creative block, and also just defining creative [seriously, what does that word mean because I’ve been in this for 15 years and I don’t even think any one knows].
My tentative itinerary looks like this:
July 9 – Image Making Day
Discussion – what is creative? How do you define creative?
Posing – Includes some tips and tricks with working with people but also a conversation within the group about different things people do / say / to create movement or genuine moments
Genuine vs Posed
Lighting – working with harsh lighting and golden hour
Rapid Image Making – making the most out of one pose / location
Golden hour image making
Darker photography – Creating images in darker lighting or using flash / triggers to your advantage
July 10 / Business / Post Processing Discussion Day
Business conversations / Marketing / Branching out into the ‘competition’ / Q & A Time
Editing Discussion / Workflow Discussion [this doesn’t mean I show you everything I do, but to discuss among other photographers different ways to do workflow since we all vary].
Backing up your images
Fun image making at night
My workshops are really targeting to photographing real everyday bodies, with people who maybe don’t like being photographed. This is the most REALISTIC thing that photographers will run into, not stylized shoots in a mountain that just give you something pretty, as is, to post online. The whole point of being a photographer is to work with any race, gender, size, person, and let them shine – and I stand by this. So throughout this workshop we will be photographing each other <3
I only have 1 or 2 more spots I am allowing in this – if you would like to learn more please click here or email me <3
SO excited for this opportunity to teach.
