(words by Erin)

Ben and I are so excited to announce our participation in the 2012 Canada Photo Convention, taking place outside Vancouver April 23-25. This convention will be our last speaking or workshop engagement for the year. See below for all the information you’ll need to join us in April!

We have been friends with the convention’s organizer, Jasser Abu-Giemi, for the past three years, and are really looking forward to what we hope is his first of many wedding photography conventions in Canada. The lineup includes some of our closest friends and photographers whom we greatly admire and constantly look to for inspiration and education – including DQ Studios, Apertura, Jenna and Tristan, JVS, Davina Plus Daniel, Kirsten Lewis and Tey and Jan Garcia. The convention is small this year, so you’ll have a chance to mingle with some of the best photographers in the industry, during the mixer on April 23, and over the course of two days of presentations April 24 and 25. We hope to see you there!

(words by erin)

A couple of months ago we teamed up with one of the best photography instructors in the wedding industry – Tyler Wirken – to kick off the first of The Wirkshop Series. The Wirkshop Series focuses on documentary photography for the wedding day. Each installment in the series is be a little different, infused with the unique flavor of various guest instructors. Ben and I were honored to be chosen for the first one, held at Tyler’s gorgeous Kansas City studio. Even though it’s a documentary workshop, we included a portrait session for the shooting demo.

We have always used real couples for our workshop shooting demos, so Tyler asked one of his upcoming wedding couples if they wouldn’t mind spending a few hours in front of 15 cameras. Angela had her hair and makeup done while her fiance Matt sat beside her, probably spending the entire time laughing about the room full of photographers circling them, crawling under chairs, moving strobes around, and analyzing every angle and nuance of light. The prep session was shot totally documentary, with no interference from any of us. The makeup and hair stylists chose where to place our bride. After Angela was all gussied up, we headed out into the streets for a real engagement session, where Ben, Tyler and I fought for posing time with our couple. Angela and Matt were great sports and showed so much patience with all of us. We shot through sunset, and then rested our eyes and bones over martinis and barbecue.

The next day we looked at what we shot the day before and later had an open critique of every student’s current work. We also fit in a sales discussion, with a client sales demo from Tyler. What was intended to be a half-day turned into a full day, with a late-hour pizza order, and pricing discussions continuing well into the night, wrapping up at the bar downstairs. I think the last of us left Tyler’s studio around 2 or 3 a.m.!

We had an absolute blast watching everyone bloom, develop, experiment and figure things out. There were a few revelations and even discoveries of hidden talents, all of which made this workshop extremely fulfilling for us. We left exhausted, but with newly stretched brains and 12 new friends.

Definitely keep an eye on the Wirkshop blog for more Wirkshop date announcements. Tyler’s planning a few more of these with other guest instructors, and is also continuing the smaller advanced Wirkshop classes. Wish we could go again, but we’ve already had our turn. Can’t wait to see who’s up next!

We recently photographed Natalie and Cody for a private workshop at our house. We love challenging ourselves for workshops, so we have a few crucial requirements each time. Two of those requirements are always using a real couple instead of models, and never planning out specific shots ahead of time, because that’s how wedding days are for us.

Natalie is a photographer in San Francisco who has recently begun second-shooting with our associate photographers. She and her boyfriend Cody had never had professional photos done of themselves, so we asked them to get in front of our cameras for this workshop. We started by having our favorite makeup artist Maria Chang do Natalie’s hair and makeup, which we photographed to demonstrate how we shoot prep on a wedding day. Then for the actual portrait shoot, we decided to go to every single room in our house and try to make a photo in each room – even the bathrooms It was a really fun process of exploring light and composition, and finding something beautiful and interesting in an otherwise ordinary place.

(words by erin)

The idea for Love + Light came from the realization of how much our style had been influenced over the last few years by the incorporation of more flash into our portraiture and documentary work. Much of that influence can be directly attributed to our friendship with two of the most talented, hardworking and inspiring photographers we know: Dave and Quin Cheung of DQ Studios. Their use of strobes in their wedding work constantly leaves us wondering – how did they do that?

So we came up with the idea of having a shooting-only workshop where photographers could learn a more comprehensive approach to wedding photography – how to find and use interesting natural and ambient light in dynamic, layered, unusual compositions; and how to add flash to enhance and mold their ideas into works of art. Ben and I took 10 students out on a shoot with a real, engaged couple; and Dave and Quin took the other 10 students out on a separate shoot with a real, married couple. Halfway through, we switched off so each group could learn and practice both styles.

Students walked away feeling confident about incorporating flash, and (we hope) feeling like they could see a little deeper into their compositions – reaching a place where they could feel free to try new things and get a little crazy, get a little dirty. Our goal was also to show how much patience and effort it takes to create the kinds of photos that make complete strangers feel inexplicably drawn to your work.

Love + Light was a day of learning, sharing, and reminding one another of the importance of taking risks to improve our craft with passion, enthusiasm and constantly evolving ideas. We are so proud of the 20 students who stepped out on that limb with us.

Big thanks to our beautiful couple Daniella and Andrew for being so patient and allowing us to capture their chemistry for six hours on 30 cameras! And a huge, couldn’t-have-done-it-without-you thanks goes out to the wonderful team at Renaissance Albums, a company both we and DQ consider part of our family.

Ben’s and my last workshop of the foreseeable future is the Wirkshop, September 27-28 in Kansas City, with one of the best photojournalism instructors in the industry, Tyler Wirken. The three of us will be exploring how to capture authentic moments in a creative, artistic way, and how to use those photos to stand out in this newly saturated market. There is only one spot left for this two-day intensive. Come join us! Information here. Or go directly to the registration page here.