For you who don’t know, Cliff Mautner is a highly regarded photographer and educator. He was named one of the top ten wedding photographers in the world by American PHOTO magazine.
However, the main reason that I took his 3-day workshop was because he was able to create beautiful photos even during the the most difficult lighting conditions. I wanted to be able to see the light the way he does. I was so glad that I took the workshop. The tuition may be expensive to some, but it was worth every penny to me. Some including myself agreed that what we gained from the workshop was worth much much more than what Cliff charged us!
Cliff not only taught the class about lighting in difficult situation, but also about lens selections, marketing, business, and workflow to name a few. We even got to see a live real potential-client meeting who was considering in hiring Cliff for their upcoming wedding! Cliff was like an open book and generously shares his wealthy knowledge that he gained from his almost 30 years of photography career. The only thing he asked us was that we shouldn’t share these information to others who have not been to his workshop. So don’t even think about asking how I did this and that on any of these images. 
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Filed under: bridal, model, portrait, wedding, workshop | Comment (1)
I actually found Don Giannatti’s workshop site by accident. I was trying to find a certain lighting technique and was pointed to his site by Google. I read about his workshop and became interested. I had been to few lighting workshops/seminars but Don’s was more in-depth, two-days, and priced reasonably. Not to mention that there was one workshop that was nearby, Baltimore. 
I found out later that the one in Baltimore was the advanced workshop. I could still do it, but I really wanted to learn about the different strobes and modifiers, and how they would affect the lighting quality. Fortunately, Don was kind enough to give me and few others a “catch-up” session the day before. So it was more like a three-day workshop for me.
Here’s one image I took on the last day. We used 5 speedlights on this setup.
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I had always been interested in taking Susan Stripling’s seminar/workshop, but got a bit discouraged by the need to travel to Florida where she usually does her workshop.
Lucky me, I just became friends with another photographer, Stacy Richardson on Facebook. A few days later, she announced that Susan Stripling was having a workshop in just 3 more days at Annapolis and there were only two vacancies left. I was so excited! The problem was that it was a last minute deal, and I had to find someone to watch my son. Luckily, we had some good friends that were willing to help us. So again, lucky me.
The workshop was in late March. It started at 10 in the morning and ended at almost 10 in the evening. We got a chance to practice to shoot outdoor where we observed the location, where the lights were coming from, and how the lights fell on the subjects. We were fortunate to have Lauren, Jen and Brent to model for us. Make up was done by the talented Amie Decker.
The forecast said that it was supposed to rain all day. Lucky us, we got some breaks in the cloud and we ended up with cloudy day during the shoot although it was quite chilly.
So here are some of my favorite images.
Most of the poses and set-ups was done by Susan, but some were done by the attendees. The first image above was set by Susan, but when it was my turn to shoot, I modified the pose a bit and directed Jen and Brent where to look. BTW, don’t you think Jen had amazing eyes?
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Filed under: bridal, engagement session, model, workshop | Comments (3)
