Super Shoot

Ahhh home at last. For the next 7 days anyway...

I just got back from a four day trip to Omaha and Kansas City.

Every year for Christmas, my parents always buy us one really BIG exciting gift. This past year they got me a weekend long workshop put on by Super Shoots that took place in Kansas City, MO. My gift also included airfare and rental car (which ended up not being necessary- thank you Corbett’s for always pulling though)!

I’ll be really honest with you... I was keeping my expectations low. I don’t know, there was just something about their website (and maybe it was the fact that it was taking place in Kansas City of all places) that just made me feel kinda “eh” about the whole thing.

The weekend started off great. I flew into Omaha basically just to drop some things off. It was great spending a little bit of time with Tim and Barb, getting to see Brandon for a few minutes; and I of course LOVED seeing little preggers Meg. I can’t believe how big she’s gotten since I saw her last in December... and to think, she’s only going to get bigger in the next month (give or take)! I can’t thank Tim enough for being so generous- he picked me up from the airport, gave me a few hours to wind down and unpack drove me straight to KC and then turned around and drove home. I love my family! <3

Onto the photography details...

So I get to the hotel where the workshop is being put on about 20 minutes early so Jessica drives me around KC a little bit. Ironically (you’ll see why in a moment) she takes me down and shows me all around the West Bottoms. It’s this old run down part of town, but they keep it because they use it every fall for haunted houses. Anyway...

The workshop starts off kinda “boring, boring, boring”. Finally, just before lunch, they bring in the first model (Maria) to demonstrate how to communicate with your model and also show some lighting examples. At this point, I’m listening a tad more intently because directing my model has never been a strong suite of mine and I’ve been told before that I need to work on it. Ugh- it’s so outside my comfort level. Oh well- that’s what I’m here to learn right?

So after lunch, all the other models show up, the photographers are paired off and off we go to shoot on location at the West Bottoms! This location really excited me because I love old run down creepy looking locations. And this place was great, every step you took, everywhere you turned, there was a completely new location to shoot. It was funny because when Jessica was showing me around earlier I couldn’t help but think to myself “damn, I wish I lived here because this would make for a kick ass location”. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to be shooting there.

Long story short, we spent the next 5 1/2 hours there taking turns with each model. Each time we’d be with one of the four Super Shoots mentors who’d constantly be watching us and guiding us. I really loved having them there to watch over my shoulder and get constant feedback. Not only that, but these models know that the photographers are here to learn, so they are very helpful and understanding of what we’re going through, and what we’re trying to accomplish.

After a long day of shooting, there’s nothing like going to a local dive bar (have I mentioned that my cousin Jessica is the KC marketing rep. for Pabts?) and watching some stationary bike races. Never heard of such a thing you say? Phenomenal I tell you. *I’ll try to post a video at some point

Day two started off much like day one, kinda slow but only “boring, boring”. We dove right into our Photoshop tutorial. Many of the participants requested to learn about skin smoothing- which is most DEFINITELY an area I’ve wanted to learn about for a really long time now. It was fascinating for me to watch Josh work on the image, do relatively minimal work, but change the image so much, and make it something so much more than what it started out as. My mind has definitely been blown- I just hope that when I get a free second to sit down and edit my own images, I can actually decipher my notes, and remember what he told me to translate that into my own work. It was then time for lunch was all an experience in and of itself. I won’t go into details, I’ll just say that I’m quite positive that I lunched with KC’s craziest. No joke.

The second half of the day was focused on studio lighting. I was really looking forward to this because as I had expressed to them on the first day, I’ve had a light meter for almost 4 years now, and never used it. I was a little disappointed when I came back from lunch and all of the lights and set up had already been done for us. Of course that’s great and all- but what does it teach us? Oh well, I’ll get my light meter training somewhere else.

After lunch is really where I got into my groove. For some reason, I just felt more free and comfortable to work with the models; grab the one I want, tell them what to do, give them more pointers, really get the shot that I had in my head. I felt like I clicked (no pun intended) really well with one model in particular, Jordan. I can’t wait to get done with all my packing so I can get to editing all of my images. Some of them are so great, I’m really happy with them and can’t wait to share them with everyone.

... Sounds like a sequel blog is in the works...

Lastly, when I got home I found most of the models I’d worked with over the weekend on either Facebook and/or Model Mayhem and befriended all of them.

It’s really important to me that while I don’t feel like I came out of this workshop with an overwhelming sense of knowledge, that I DID learn something. So I emailed each of the models asking for their input. I wanted to know what I did that they particularly liked, and what they felt like I could work on.

The response was overwhelming. I couldn’t believe all the wonderful things each of them had to say about me. I wanted to share with you what a few of them had to say:

“I loved that you weren't afraid to just tell me what you were looking for and how you wanted me to move!” - Kelsi Z

“It is refreshing working with a woman photographers and I like it. I wish there were more woman photographers out there. There is different comfort level that I feel shooting with a female that is for sure.” -April C

“I must say though out of all of the photographers you were definitely one of my faves.....and i cant wait to see the images we created.” - Jordan W

“I think you have a very unique style and it was a blast working with you. I'm looking forward to seeing our work!” - Travis F

I’ll keep it at that. I just wanted to share with you all my experience from this past weekend. Even if it didn’t hit me right away what I learned, I could not be happier that I attended the workshop. I was in such a funk, and even doubting if photography was what I wanted to be doing with my life- and it really brought me out of it. Now all I want to do is shoot, shoot, shoot!

Part II coming in a few weeks when I can get some time to edit so you all can see my finished product :)