In this installment of our assignment series, we asked participants to illustrate what “Beginnings!” meant to them.

The approach could have been anything from a photojournalistic exercise to an artistic construction. We left it up to the photographers to define the phrase and how they interpreted it.

The most creative entries won (see below) Actually, everyone did!!

Our assignment series is open to all photographers, professional, semi-pro and rank amateur.

What a fun collection of Beginnings images, from the cute babies (and almost babies) to the beautiful flowers and the unique & quirky interpretations.

Thank you for playing and now …. The Winners!!!

1st Place is Michele Stapleton’s Graduation image:

2nd Place is Rachel Worrall’s Toilet Paper Roll:

3rd place is Renee Thompson’s Basketball image:

Congrats and thank you to everyone that played along!!!

Rainy Days and Mondays

We are excited to announce that the next ShootStyle workshop will take place on Sunday, May 16, 2009, from 1pm to 7pm at the Hampton Inn in Worcester, MA.

There’s an old saying in New England.  “Don’t like the weather? Wait 5 minutes.”  So what do you do when Hurricane Destructosaurus blows into town on your couple’s beautiful wedding day?  Or what do you do when your bride, planning her October wedding in June, decides that picture time should happen at 7:00pm?

In this workshop, Jamie Wexler will show you some tips and tricks for creating great photos indoors and after dark.  With a practical, hands-on approach, he’ll show you what to look for in a great indoor location and quick and easy ways to use indoor lighting in a way that adds interest.  Finally, he’ll show you where to look for really cool locations and interesting lighting in the most boring of venues.

The workshop will begin with an hour-long presentation by Jamie.  Participants will then have a chance to work with models and ShootStyle members at a suitably difficult location to put the tips and tricks to work.  Then we’ll all regroup to review our photos together and talk about out the shoot.

The cost is $45 and is limited to the first 16 people who sign up.  Click here to secure your place: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/635067504

Want to come to the workshop for free?  We are offering 4 slots to photographers who are willing to participant in the model shoot in front of the camera!  You would get to participate in all of the other aspects of the workshop, slipping into your model shoes just for the model shoot portion.  Since this workshop is focused on creating bridal portraits we’re looking for female models.  Shoot us an email at jamie@jamisonwexler.com if interested.

ShootStyle has just finished up our largest model shoot ever in Ogunquit, Maine. The workshop, led by Michelle Turner, gave participants an opportunity to brush up on posing, photograph some beautiful models, and enjoy a day spent with other photographers.  The workshop was held at Stone Crop Gallery, an amazing seasonal fine art photography gallery in Ogunquit, Maine.  A big thanks to Dana Berenson for allowing us to hold the workshop at her beautiful gallery.

The workshop was fantastically well attended- photographers from all over New England signed up for this seven hour workshop . The weather got a bit chilly, but the models and participants were tough cookies and endured the fickle spring weather in Maine!  Our next workshop will be on May 16 in Massachusetts- stay tuned to the blog for details!

Here are some images from the ShootStylers:

A big thank-you to all the participants! Erin Chapman, Allana Taranto, Carol Savage, Lyana Votey , Emily Carter Delamater, Audra Medunitza-Welton, Margaret Belanger, Michelle Gordon McDougal, Sierra Kristen Jackson, Erik Patton, Jocelyn Mathewes, Jenifer Dean Hartman, David Butler, Jamie Cinq-Mars, B Corey, and Mark Andrew Higgins.  Here are some of our favorite participant images:

In this installment of our assignment series, we bring you the phrase “Beginnings!”

Our assignment series is open to all photographers, professional, semi-pro and rank amateur. We’re hoping you’ll wanna play along.

Your assignment is to illustrate the concept “Beginnings”. This might be a photojournalistic exercise or an artistic construction. We leave it up to you to define the phrase and how you will interpret it. The most creative entry wins! Actually, everyone wins. We will post all of the entries on our facebook page, and post a few of our favorites on our blog, complete with a link back to your blog or website.

Images should be sized to 590 pixels on the long side. If you need help figuring that out, ask your favorite Shootstyler! And by all means, slap that logo on there if you have one! Email your entry to:

assignment@shootstyle.com

We have an album on our Facebook fan page. When the entries start coming in, we’ll post them there first. Check in with us at Facebook if you are looking for some inspiration.

www.facebook.com/ShootStyle

The deadline is April 15, a Thursday, TAX DAY!!. If you’d like to think about “Beginnings” at events you are already shooting, we think that would be pretty keen. If you want to go do something wacky and outside of your usual style of photography, even better!

Let’s have fun doing this together!!Assignment series: “Beginnings!”

The Shoot Style crew held a posing workshop headed by Michelle Turner today in Ogunquit Maine. Much fun was had, the photographers are downloading and processing now. Can’t wait to share the images!

Until then, here are a few of the ‘behind the scenes’ images to whet your appetites.

Thanks all!!

Stay tuned!!

In this installment of our assignment series, we bring you the phrase “Done Me Wrong!” Since this assignment runs through Valentine’s Day, we figured we’d run a little anti-Valentine’s Day theme.

Our assignment series is open to all photographers, professional, semi-pro and rank amateur. We’re hoping you’ll wanna play along.

Your assignment is to illustrate the concept “Done Me Wrong”. This might be a photojournalistic exercise or an artistic construction. We leave it up to you to define the phrase and how you will interpret it. The most creative entry wins! Actually, everyone wins. We will post all of the entries on our facebook page, and post a few of our favorites on our blog, complete with a link back to your blog or website.

Images should be sized to 590 pixels on the long side. If you need help figuring that out, ask your favorite Shootstyler! And by all means, slap that logo on there if you have one! Email your entry to:

assignment@shootstyle.com

The images will be used on this blog, Facebook, and a few select images may make a post on the Digital Wedding Forum, just ’cause we’ll want to show everyone’s cool ideas off!

We’ll have an album on our Facebook fan page. When the entries start coming in, we’ll post them there first. Check in with us at Facebook if you are looking for some inspiration.

www.facebook.com/ShootStyle

The deadline is February 14, a Sunday. If you’d like to think about “Done Me Wrong” at events you are already shooting, we think that would be pretty keen. If you want to go do something wacky and outside of your usual style of photography, even better!

Let’s have fun doing this together!!Assignment series: “Done Me Wrong!”

I’ve been thinking about collaboration lately. A big part of why I am involved with ShootStyle is I feel like by collaborating with other creative artists, I am able to be much greater than I am by myself.

Last week Stacey Doyle came up to shoot a Deanne and Thorton’s wedding in Northport, Maine with me. We’ve worked together on a few weddings already, and we both love it! At some point in the wedding day, I like to wander off with the couple and find a beautiful vista or quiet little cubbyhole that illustrate the feel of the wedding venue.

Last Sunday, I turned to Stacey in the middle of this photo session at Point Lookout and asked her what she had seen for interesting locations. She had seen this bench on the way on and had made a mental note of it as a good photo location.

Once in the space, I started thinking back to Michelle Turner’s talk at Mystic on posing. Michelle is doing a posing workshop at our next Shootstyle model shoot and so it has been on my mind. I tend more towards gentle suggestions to the couple (”Go hang out over there and just talk/kiss/hang out”) but in this one location I did some actual posing, based entirely on Michelle’s concepts, guiding the couple into place.

It was fun, it’s not a ground-breaking image, but it is a nice quiet moment, brought about by three photographers.

:)

Walter Van Dusen’s annual winter get-together held in Mystic, CT is one of the bestest venues for photographer education and mingling in New England. It’s an event that the ShootStyle team wouldn’t miss for the world. This year, we arrived a day early to practice with some models and fellow playmates Erin Chapman, Kate McElwee, Carol Savage, and Jeannie Worley Turnock. Here’s a smattering of the photos we took:

ShootStylers Stacey Doyle and Michelle Turner could not have more different styles of approaching and photographing a wedding day if they tried.

Stacey and Michelle showcased their differences at this year’s Mystic event, presented by Walter van Dusen. Mystic is an annual learning and networking event held in CT. We ShootStylers sat front row to support our girls and especially Stacey as she held her first presentation.

While Michelle likes to photograph the details and portraits, Stacey is more comfortable disappearing into the background and capturing raw emotions.

To prove how their differences can work, they photographed a wedding together last month in Mexico. These 2 have clearly defined styles that their clients specifically hire them for. Throw them both together onto the same event and you get an interesting mishmash of editorial and photojournalistic styles.

I would best describe these girls as ying and yang. Whether it’s natural light or external lighting, posing or loose suggestion, there’s no wrong way to approach a wedding so long as your client is educated about what they are to expect. Showcasing a particular style in your marketing and NOT showing what you don’t like to/want to shoot is the only way to go.

Since I personally love shooting details AND love being a wallflower, I fall somewhere in between these girls’ styles.

While I can’t sympathize with Stacey when she says details leave her “cold inside”,  I appreciate her need to not be seen and her love of the unscripted moment. Though I side with Michelle in her use of mostly natural light, her love of those details, and her use of Photoshop and textures to enhance images, I find that I’d rather skip wedding portraits all together.

Stay tuned for Michelle and Stacey to show and tell their sides of the story soon!

~Zofia

The ShootStylers went to Western Maine in November to mingle with some Maine photographers. Carol Savage, Samantha Warren and Amy Salerno shot with us. We met up with local models Elizabeth Baumhoff, Erica Carson and Joanna Reese. We duded them up as backwoods Maine beauties and then trundled up to Grafton Notch State Park and worked in the Screw Augers Falls and Moose Caves areas.

The entire outdoor shoot lasted a mere hour and a half, as the shortened November day got the best of us.

Hair and makeup by Ambiance Spa in South Paris.