About a year ago, the Professional Photographers of North Carolina's East Coast School contacted me about hosting/teaching a ProShare class. These are full-day seminars offered to professional photographers at the teacher's studio. I've done some informal one-on-one teaching at my studio, but never with a group.I thought it would be a lot of fun, and I was right! Plus I was honored to be asked. So...I started planning, thinking, and organizing. As the day drew nearer we got busy putting together information packets, and lining up models and making arrangements for food. Then came the cleaning and sorting, all that stuff that is against my nature, lol. Good thing I have Vanessa here to keep me on task. It's a lot of work to put an event like this together, but the studio was cleaner than it had been in ages. I thought I had it all "in the bag" but as my hubby, Randy tells me, "if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans." So it snowed.
Unfortunately, one student couldn't get a flight out from Maryland--between the Presidential inauguration and the snow, she was fighting a losing battle. But most of my class was already in town for a photography seminar, and they said they wanted to go ahead, despite the 2 or 3 inches of snow.
Well, I grew up in the mountains on a curvy, dirt, one-lane road, so I'm certainly not going to wimp out because of a little snow. I put the Jeep in 4 wheel drive, and did the slip and slide dance all the way to the studio. I have a healthy respect and knowledge of driving in snow. But let me tell you, we don't get enough of the fun white stuff around here for people to learn how to drive in it. You have to watch out for the weather, and watch out for the people who get out there and try to drive in it.
We spent the day focused on my specialty--BABY PORTRAITS! Understandably, most of my models didn't make it, but we had plenty to do. Special thanks to Barb Dudley from McDonald's for sharing some of her time to talk to us about marketing (and they have the best hot chocolate!) And extra special thanks to 4 month old Zane for bringing his Mommy and being our cute little model. What a sweetheart!
This was the best group of folks! I feel like I had a room full of friends by the time the day was over, and it was kinda sad to see it end. I learned a lot from my group, and hopefully they learned at least a few things from me. We shared loads of ideas and inspirations. I shared my lighting and posing techniques, we talked about props, backgrounds and clothing selections for baby portraits.
I can't wait for my next opportunity to teach. It will be a few months and I'll be headed to Virginia to speak to a group of pros there. I must say, having my studio at my fingertips was quite a luxury. If I thought of something to show them, it was right there. Maybe we'll have a wonderful group in Virginia like this last one.....
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