This weekend I had the privilege of being able to teach some of the things I’ve learned in my past few years photographing weddings to a group of professional wedding photographers from all over the US and Canada. Since we are all members of an online wedding photography community, we had all spent a lot of time communicating online, but it was a real treat to meet such a cool group of people face to face.

The meet was held at the Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York with participants flying in from as far away as WA, TX, VA, and Alberta. After a quick introduction, the three models arrived, along with a selection of gowns loaned to us for the day from David’s Bridal. We divided into three groups with one group going with Jeff Toogood from St Thomas, Ontario, to learn about his signature group posing techniques, another going with Lloyd Yoon from Edmonton, Alberta, to learn about his methods for achieving dramatic lighting effects using off camera flashes, and the third going with me to learn about creating striking photos in not so beautiful places. After an hour or so, we all met back up and switched groups, then again an hour after that, until everyone had a chance to work with all three instructors and models.

I have to tell you, it wasn’t easy finding the not so beautiful parts of the Desmond. Built to look like an old colonial town, with cobble stoned indoor courtyards and gardens, I had to take the first group out back to where the deliveries are made and the dumpsters are stored to find a less than pristine location. Once outside however, the dingy, gray day made the challenge even better. Big props to our model, Amanda, for braving the chilly November temperatures, and not showing it!

For group 2, we decided to see what we could do with the conference room that they put us in. To be fair, the conference room was not ugly. It was actually really cool - set up like an old hunting lodge with stuffed dead things on the walls.

Unbeknownst to me, one of the participants, Jessica Watson caught this shot of me taking that photo!

For the third group, we decided to see if we could get good photos in the stairwell and the narrow hotel halls. There was great light in the stairwells, and great ledges to get the height that’s so flattering for a bride. Again, a participant, Rich Michaels got this shot of me attempting to defy gravity:

And the results:

After working hard all day, a number of us gathered in Mike’s hotel room, where we received an education in beer, along with a good quantity of samples! Thanks to everyone for making the weekend so much fun!