Continuing my education

Do you know when your last photographer attends a class or seminar for photography? Not sure? Continuing the learning process is vital to stay on top of the game no matter what you do in life. Teachers at your children’s school attend meeting and classes periodically, doctors, nurses, just about anything you can name has some way of continuing their education in their craft. I too am continuing my education in photography as well.
Last night I attended a seminar given by Ed Pierce called Captivated By The Light. Ed Pierce is a portrait photographer of 33 year and has produced many DVD’s on this subject. Ed has also come up with a disk set that helps calibrate your digital camera’s exposure. It is not a disk that you put in to a computer but rather you put in front of the camera and take a reading from it. The disk has a black, neutral grey and white stripe. I know it looks weird but believe me once you get the exposure correctly calibrated then the work in front of the computer after the session become so much easier and quicker. I love all my session and I could spend a lot of time creating cool effects in Photoshop, but you must have a good solid exposure to start with. If you don’t have that solid balanced photo to start with then you spend a lot of time cleaning each photo which takes time away creativity.
Now most of the concepts he talked about was not new to me, just sort of forgotten. As a photographer I have over the years learned a lot from every session and mentor I have had. With all of that information to draw from, you can tend to forget the basics of light, posing, and exposures. It is beneficial for all, including the masters, to go back to the basics and relearn what they already know. I know that could sound boring, learning what you already know, but each teacher has their own style to bring to the class. When you attend Ed’s class you not only get the lighting lesion but you can see how each of his portraits was created. You see what lights he use and how he used them, or what reflectors was used on a location shoot. On top of this you can see how Ed works and his style come out in each portrait he creates.
So how does this benefit you as a customer? First it is great to get out of the studio and meet other photographers and talk shop. Second, the people I seek out to learn from are photographers that influence me and who I try to emulate with my portrait work. Third, an inspired photographer is a photographer that will be creative, energized and much happier to be around. As far as my continuing education, I plan to continue attend at least one class a year. So on your next session ask me about the classes I attended for the year, and I will be more than happy to you all about them.