I wanted to share with you guys some work that I’ve been doing at the New England School of Photography (NESOP) for the last six months or so.
A couple of years ago I decided to take a workshop at NESOP to work on my portrait skills. I was doing OK with my people pictures, but I hadn’t had any formal training in how to do it the “right” way. During my time in the class, I learned a ton about lighting, posing and how to build a rapport with the people in front of my camera. It was a great experience that I highly recommend to any one interested in modern portraiture.
My instructor for the class was Kate Joyce, pictured right. She very patiently answered all of my questions, of which there were probably too many, while also making me think about how to improve my own work. Once the course was finished, I kept in touch with her so I could continue bugging her about my work. She’s an awesome wedding photographer, so check out her site.
Fast forward to about nine months ago. I get a note from her asking if I would be interested in being her teaching assistant. I had spent a lot of time in the portrait studios and used to do some teaching in a previous life, so I jumped at the opportunity.
So most every Tuesday evening for the last six months I’ve been helping Kate at NESOP with the modern portraiture workshop. I enjoy answering questions from students and it’s always great to learn new things from them. I also get to sit in on the lectures which helps to reinforce those things that slipped through when I was a student in the class. Assisting duties included answering the phone, hauling gear up and down the stairs and occasionally acting as a model. All around good stuff.
I’m sad to say that our second run of the workshop is coming to an end next week, but it will free me up some to work on a secret project I’m planning on launching this fall.