Last night we were really happy to be asked to teach and demonstrate some fashion photography for the Calgary Camera Club at their first meeting of their 17/18 schedule. It was quite a last minute opportunity that came up as another professional photographer that was booked to speak to the club had a very last minute assignment to Alaska with Nikon which he just couldn’t pass up. It ended up working out well as we don’t generally work Mondays so the time was free and it was a really great opportunity to speak in front of people that really love photography.

The featured image for this post of our model Peyton which should be showing above was taken at the event.

There were around 50 people in attendance with all different ages, photography interests and abilities. The club has a really good following in Calgary and they were a really welcoming group that genuinely loves photography.

Fashion photography may not be where a number of the group are focused as there are many great landscape and wildlife photographers at the club along with a number of wonderful photographers with interest in portrait and family work.

My main focus of work personally is fashion photography so on such short notice and really with little background information on the club and their interests I decided that I would speak a little about myself and how I ended up where I am in professional fashion photography. I then setup a small demo with a professional model, makeup artist and myself giving a taste of how I work through a fashion shoot with a couple of different lighting setups.

My background in photography started in winter sports then gradually made its journey through families, babies, weddings, portraits until I settled in fashion where I am so passionate. When starting out in photography I spent my time learning and practicing everything I could point a camera at and there are so many elements from all this experience that I integrate into my fashion photography now.

It was interesting speaking last night and thinking back to how elements of all the areas of photography I have learned from are being used in what I do now and then relaying that back to the people I was speaking to so that they were able relate in some way to what I was demonstrating. This was pretty much all done off the cuff on the night as I really didn’t know what the interests of my audience would be when I got there.

Although there were a wide range of types of photography of interest at the event and even if it may not be on the forefront of every persons mind it is all about light and using light to capture images or alter how the image is captured on the sensor. Whether this is babies, family, landscapes or animals. How the light falls on your subject and the angle you capture that from is as relevant for taking an image or an owl as it is a model. Granted you aren’t able to direct an owl like you can a person but you can move yourself into a position to get the most flattering lighting for your subject.

In fashion I am able to control and alter lighting very quickly and even create lighting scenarios that don’t naturally happen outside and I am nearly always working with professional models but no matter what type of image you would like me to capture whether that is a baby, dog, bear or a waterfall, how the light falls on the subject is in the front of my mind and how can I influence, alter or work with what is there.

With people especially I always think of how can I get the most flattering image of this person without resorting to photoshop in post. The position of their features and body in relation to the lens and then using lighting to add to, highlight or subtract from the image while directing the subject to pose or move in a fluid relaxed manor are some of many of the things that go through my mind as I work.

Nature and animals aren’t something that I capture images of much but as I sit here thinking I am picturing light and how it falls on my old dogs head and body and how he moved. Then he wasn’t very well trained so I’m thinking of how I could use the environment around him such as steps, fences, pathways to guide how and where he would walk or run and where I would need to be to capture that movement while having light fall on him in a way that is pleasing to see in camera.

Now all of this was going through my mind as I stood in front of a diverse group of eager photographers with a professional fashion model and thousands of dollars or lighting equipment with a short amount of time to get across useful information that hopefully will resonate with everyone in the room on some level.

As I spend all of my time living and breathing fashion photography it has been some time since I have consciously gone back through my memory banks to where I learned all of the things that are now applying to my fashion work and there was so much I wanted to share last night that would connect the dots between what I do now and where those processes and my creativity comes from. There was only so much time though and enough information to fill weeks or teaching.

I really wanted to thank the Calgary Camera Club for reaching out and listening to us last night and we were very grateful to be able to impart some information with a really welcoming and wonderful group of photographers.

I will put the contact information for the Calgary Camera Club here http://www.calgarycameraclub.ca/ they are a really great group of people and I really really wanted to thank Manuelita our makeup artist and Peyton our model for being their with us you guys are awesome.