Sunday, July 12

2008 Bebbinar in Chicago

It is very important to me, as a photographer, to recognise that training is an ongoing investment in our business. During 2008 I attended several training courses and I am finally getting round to blogging about some of them. One of the courses I attended was a Bebbinar run by Jen and Steve Bebb in Chicago. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect and was definitely out of my comfort zone. Although it did give me a chance to explore Chicago which is a city I hadn't been to before. I had the weekend there before the course started. I met some of the other people who would be on the course the night before at a DWF get together which was really nice.

To say the course changed the way I approach my photography would be a huge understatement. Jen and Steve are such giving people and they shared their many years of experience with us. It was a really well rounded course as they dealt with the photography and all the business aspects of running a photography studio. We got a chance go out and do some shooting around Chicago and I really love their gritty approach to finding the perfect location. The emphasis is so much on the moment, rather than a pretty background. We each had to "direct" for 5 minutes and I was dreading this as it is not something I relish doing with an audience of other photographers. I did it anyway and the others people on the course were great. It was also useful to see how others approached this. I have since been following the work of two photographers via Facebook and their Blogs and just love what they are doing. They are Dustin Izatt Photography and Misha Media Photography.

We had a review session of the images that we took and this was a really constructive experience. Before we left we all had a chance to have a one-to-one session with either Jen or Steve and that was very helpful as I dealt with some of the points that Steve had made when I returned to the UK. I constantly draw on the knowledge learned on the course when I am doing photo shoots and would highly recommend this course to anyone who is think about it.

A UK Bebbinar was planned for earlier this year, but has now been postponed until later in the year. If you live in UK this would be a great chance to do this course without having to travel to North America. To get in touch with Jen or Steve for more details about the UK Bebbinar, visit their website. Below are some of my images from the course.






1 comment:

Dove Photography said...

Ha ha

Read the last comment and apply to this post aswell. And note that I now know how to spell 'Jerry' X