I will be starting a new class in June in conjunction with KelbyOne. It is called Complete photographer, and it’s almost sold out! In one non-stop week, we aim to become the class title: Complete photographer.
We’re all staying in the same lovely hotel, so it’ll be photos, critiques, constant analysis and storytelling, breakfast, lunch and dinner. We will have problems to solve. The locations will be amazing and elaborate. The ongoing mission this week is to move the needle not just a notch but to a whole new level. My goal for anyone in the class is to go home feeling confident in completing the work and achieving a successful outcome when, upon first review, you show up and realize that there is no a painting miles away from you. You are successful, even, as they say, “you close one eye and the other is buggy.”
There are a lot of educational images out there. You can gather valuable information from all over the internet. You can practice countless skills, from lighting to post-production, from iPhone photography to the dark, mysterious paths of AI. But, this class is different. It will have a serious purpose and an equally serious assessment of daily results. Actors, models and subjects will range from real people to beautiful talents. It will have tasks with deadlines. The purpose of taking photos at the scene will not be random.
Coming from a young photographer background, I wanted/needed to work so much that I didn’t want to face any situation that I felt I couldn’t handle as a photographer. Not to mention there were things I took that I shouldn’t have, or exercises I needed to shoot better. But I never felt like work was being pushed so fast that I couldn’t figure out how to manage it. Add that to a healthy ability to convince yourself of anything, like, “Yeah, I can figure this out,” and you get a snapshot of your visual brain. I. I can do it, give me the job.
Therefore, over time, I had to endure the division of tasks in the kitchen. Celebrity, Olympics, corporate, advertising, fashion, concept work, industrial, portrait, long form involving months in the style industry reporting for Nat Geo, who famous five-minute coverage for Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated, lighting up the world’s largest telescope, and simple, understated portraits that tell a powerful story.
There are simple, lovely jobs with small budgets and great results. There have been huge pressure jobs with six-figure budgets and high expectations. And everything in between.
A constant? The photographer’s mission remains the same. Tell a good story. Use your toolbox of skills and the electric combination of your eyes, mind and heart. Enhance your thinking ability to create powerful visualizations both inside and outside the box. Learn to adapt and develop the ability to improvise, make money and save a job that from the looks of it is most likely going to go down the drain.
We will talk about business and survival skills. We will return to the stories and look at the work of those who came before us, those formidable archives that form the shoulders on which we all stand. We will take risks and try unusual things. It is a wonderful and soul-purifying experience to wander the streets of almost any place, looking for photos in the beautiful light of late afternoon. It’s another thing entirely to hone the skills needed to emerge into the midday sun and tame that beast. Or create the eloquent but outlandish wishes of an art director while floating in a sea of unhappiness, lack of time and unrealistic expectations.
We’re really talking about confidence. It’s a huge part of the photography equation. And this week is designed to give you just that.
Work a situation. Give a result. Find another device and dig deeper. The persistence and glue of a photography career.
Transform an ordinary, boring room and make this disappear….
Or be shown this…
And rendering this, it’s a situation that fits the customer’s image of themselves, but in reality, has no basis in reality.
Location, studio, models are all provided. Analog flashing device, all you could want. A week of stories, laughter and immersion. Sign up here to join us! Complete photographer.
Further…
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