My dearest readers, I’ve been terribly lax in my blogging recently and I feel very guilty about it, can you ever forgive me?!

If I’m entirely honest, the last event that I blogged about was such a high that I really struggled with what to write about next!  How can you top a full blown model bridal shoot, with Charlotte Balbier dresses?  Well, I can but try.

A while ago Steve was introduced to Lee Iggulden of Welshot Imaging, an organisation dedicated to providing services tailored specifically to photographers.  Whether you’ve never used a camera in your life and now find yourself clutching something a fancy piece of technology someone bought you for Christmas, or if you’re a professional photographer who takes photos for a living, Welshot is set up to help.  The range of services that Lee provides is mind-blowing, and we were hooked!

Steve joined Welshot on the spot, and signed up to be a Team Leader at an upcoming Snapshot Day, as well as offering to run Workshops,  Academy Evenings, and just about anything else Lee wanted to put him to work doing!

Our first Welshot Experience was a “Snapshot Day” in Manchester.  This is where a whole group of photography enthusiasts came along for a full on day of photographing in a huge range of genres.  Throughout the day there were lectures on Good Business Practice, on Editing and on Thinking Outside The Box. (Please note, those are probably not what they were called, I just forget the actual mini-lecture titles!).  Everyone was then split off into groups (each group named after something photography related, obviously!) and were given an hour long crash course in a photography genre, before moving onto the next one.

There were Ferrari’s to play with, professional models to photograph, studio lighting, macro, lifestyle…everything you could possibly think of, then a whole lot else!

Steve and I were running a module on creating a Storyboard to Music.  Using our Charlotte Balbier shoot as an example, we were demonstrating how music can be used for inspiration.  We created a fictional retail client (”Sarah’s”), chose 3 songs with Sarah in the title or name of the band, and had 2 models, Sarah-Helen and Sarah-Jen!  Of course, we weren’t suggesting that our idea should be taken so literally, it was just an exaggerated example.  And it amused us.  We are easily amused!

We had everything planned perfectly.  The group would come over, we’d show a clip from our Balbier Animoto Video, give them the spiel and their brief, then go outside where there were cool fire escapes, bright shipping containers and other interesting things.  We’d split our group into two, give them a model and location each, then swap over half way through.

Sounds great, right?

Well the British Weather Gods had other ideas.

Two groups in, and the light drizzle turned into more of a downpour.  That then continued.  All day.

The photographers had been told “bring appropriate clothing, if it rains, tough”.  That was fine.  They were outside for only 2 of their modules, so they were able to dry off again.  Our models on the other hand, had to do this all day.  They didn’t have the option of sitting this module out, or photographing in the bar, they had to be where Steve told them to be.

I have to tell you, I have never been so impressed in my life than when I saw the level of professionalism these two girls showed.  They were getting cold and wet and knew they had a day stretching ahead of them where it would only get worse, and they didn’t utter a single word of complaint.  Even when “off camera” during creative discussions they looked as cheerful and happy as they did on camera.  At the end of the module they would briefly go off for a hair and make up re-touch, then be back and ready to do it again.  It was amazing.  I would love to work with them both again, they were wonderful.

Steve and I did decide that it was unfair on the models to force them to be outside for the next few groups, so after lunch we decided to move indoors.  Plus we were cold and wet too!

That involved some serious improvisation on Steve’s part, since we were in a hotel, full of guests, and very little space to work in.  The hotel manager was very accommodating and helped us find suitable “work space”.  It was definitely a lesson in thinking on your feet for our photography enthusiasts!

We ended up in the dinner area, with very little overhead lighting and all falling over one another.  Steve was able to demonstrate how to still get lovely photographs in the most difficult of circumstances, and how windows give you much more light than you think.  Honestly, when I saw the area I thought we’d never pull it off.  It was dim, a little dingy and I really didn’t think there was enough light.  Apparently I know nothing!  I admit, here and now, that I was wrong!  I think this surprised the members of the group even more than it surprised me.

We had a lot of fun, and met a lot of interesting people, I chattered Steve’s ear off the whole way home about all the people I’d spoken to and the stories they’d told me!

It was a fabulous day, even if it was a little wet, and I can’t wait to be involved in the next one.

If you would like to take a look at some of the photos Steve took (and when he found the time I’ll never know!) then have a look at the album on the Steve Oatway Photography facebook page, here.

I will try and remember to put some of Steve’s photos into this blog post, but I currently don’t have access to them.

All the best,

Charlotte