Anna Maria is the last workshop of the season for me. For the past three years we have done that workshop on Anna Maria Island, Florida. We will do next years last workshop of the year on Anna Maria. I love that place and it has so many places to make images.
Next year’s workshop will be something special, with the 4 day workshop culminating in a book. We will shoot, design and publish a book within that time frame. I can say no more, but it is really an amazing place we will be shooting and the people are wonderful. This will be a remarkable experience for those who are interested in environmental portraiture, shooting “stories”, working with a team and putting the images into a context of a book. We will shoot, design and send a book off to be printed in that 72 hour time frame.
Here’s how it usually goes at the Anna Maria Island workshop. Day one we introduce the concepts and tools, do a lot of testing and proof of concept work. From our little workshop studio to working on the beach across the street, we cover a wide gamut of lighting situations. Natural light, strobes, mixed lighting and more are combined to give the student a deep set of tools to become familiar with. Friday night usually finds us at a cool little restaurant down the street, then shooting and talking late into the evening.
Saturday we work with talent. Models from the area and from far away all convene for the next two days, and the photographers do assignment work, portfolio work and test lighting for their learning experience. We have a wide assortment of shooters there and there are many opportunities for portfolio work to be shot. This particular Saturday night found Stephanie (one of our models) in the kitchen cooking dinner. Chicken Parmigiano… truly delicious.
Sunday starts out on the beach (yeah, it was chilly this year, but so what…) and we work through several assignments and portfolio shoots. There is a wonderful camaraderie that develops with the teams and everyone works as assistant while awaiting their turn as photographer. Sunday evening I cooked my Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Peppers for all who stayed after. Talking about photography went long into the evening.
This weekend we had Billy Kidd, our host and shooter for the Disney folks, Keith Taylor, an Atlanta editorial photographer, and Charles Howard, a shooter from Houston, there for the students to work with and learn from. Laurie Elmer, a Tampa photographer, came out and met with the group on Sunday evening.
Monday we took some time to shoot for the book, and several of the students hung around an extra day to get more shooting in. That is always a fun time. I rarely shoot at the workshops, so Monday/Tuesday are the days I get to pull the camera out and make some images.
Before we head on over to the gallery, I want to share a few things with you. The previous LE Post discussed upcoming events and directions for the site. Check it out if you are interested in moving forward into a semi-professional or professional approach to commercial photography.
I want to tell you about a very very cool thing happening in February. As you know, Selina Maitreya is a great friend of this site, offering her audio seminar at a %50 discount to our readers. She has put together a powerful group of industry leaders to discuss the world of commercial photography, and she has made it FREE. Yep, no charge to listen in with an incredible assortment of people who will give you advice, ideas and commentary that you can put to use immediately. I am very proud to be on that panel.
And if you haven’t gotten your Audio Program “The View From Here”, take a little of that holiday cash and purchase one here. Save 50% by using the code FOSLE.
Now go on to the jump and check out some of the images the students did at this workshop.
Our photographers are Josh Anderson, Rhys Harper (NY), Michael Gauthier, Dave Cote, Charles Howard, David Womble, Paul Chiesman, Brian Burns and Keith Taylor. If and when I get more images from the shooters, I will add them.
Thanks so much for visiting the site, and do watch for more info coming this week on preparing for the first Going Pro assignments coming soon – starting January, 3, 2011. Follow me on Twitter to keep up, and visit Learn to Light for information on the workshops.
My new years prediction:
This will be a big year for Don and Lighting Essentials.