The SOPHA KickStart Studio Lighting workshop is the best class for beginner photographers living or working new Manchester, NH. I’ve recently had a few opportunities to model for it and found it truly inspirational.
As the model, I’ll typically start working halfway through the photographer’s instructional session. The first part of the workshop focuses on basic lighting techniques and setup. After this, the real work begins!
Lighting Inspiration
This particular workshop begins with an image from a magazine. The photographers analyze the lighting in the image and must recreate it.
My job is to stand in as the model from the image. Another part of my job is to interact with the photographer. It may seem obvious, but you wouldn’t believe how many times photographers would need to ask me to adjust, but never asked, missing the shot.
While my wardrobe, hair, and makeup may be different from the tear out, we all do our best. I usually manage to find outfits pretty similar to the original look.
Modeling is Hard!
The hardest part for me is recreating the same pose as provided in the image. It’s always easier to create my own poses, so copying a pose is a fun challenge! It gets tiring quickly when holding a position long enough for five photographers to get a shot. You may know the “relaxed over the shoulder glance”… it’s not too relaxed after 5 minutes.
My favorite part of modeling in the studio lighting workshop is seeing everyone’s images after. Even though they are shooting the same look you can tell that each person has their own style of both shooting and editing.
It’s amazing to see the individual take on a shot and find something completely different from the next person. Not only that, but I find a different connection is made with every photographer I shoot with.
I’ve learned a lot from this class just listening as Bud Thorpe instructs and gives a different perspective for students to think about. From the photography side, this class is incredibly beneficial, especially if you don’t do studio lighting often and want to learn the basics. It’s on my own list of classes to take when my schedule frees up this year, so I highly recommend it.
A huge thank you to all the photographers that I had a chance to work with during this class, especially those whose photos I shared in this post (Mary Molleur Photography, Fleur Foto Photography, GraphiCole, and Rick Bouthiette Photography), and an even bigger thank you to Bud Thorpe, Kim Sancranti, and all the staff at SOPHA for making yourselves available to answer any and all questions, and give necessary feedback and direction, no matter the subject.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out their website at http://www.thesopha.com/ to learn more about the SOPHA KickStart Studio Lighting workshop and other events!
Laura says
We loved working with you!