All of the attendees had been on a previous photography business course with Sally Marie and were ready to tackle the practical side of photographing a wedding.
The day began with coffees and introductions and then into one of the training centre's purpose-built classrooms for some background theory on approaching a wedding, from sales and marketing through to posing, lighting and even image presentation. The morning was an intense, densely-packed information session and delegates were given a booklet of course notes to help with posing, essential shots and dealing with all the many elements that make up a wedding.
After a light lunch, the delegates changed into smart attire (in order to pose as extra guests for setting up authentic-looking group shots - the men even had buttonholes!) and we headed outside into the drizzle, armed with white brollies, cameras and a classic Jaguar decked out with wedding ribbons, to start the portfolio-building section of the day.
The rain was unforgiving, but our stunning model groom, Jack, and model bride Chloe in a fabulous vintage wedding dress and veil, braved the elements and posed patiently with our "chauffeur" for the delegates to pose them and get their shots.
As the rain clouds cleared we headed to the park for some scenic shots, beginning with group posing techniques.
After that the delegates were let loose on the very patient Chloe, in order to put into practice the techniques we'd covered in the morning's classroom session on bridal posing. The delegates concentrated on body angles, correct arms and hand positioning and interacting with the 'bride' to get the best from their shots.Everyone was then set a "10 Shot Challenge" - where they were given a one or two-word title, such as "colour", "S Curve" or "posed hands" - and had to create just one shot for each heading. This helped them to get into the habit of thinking carefully about the composition, content, lighting and posing of their shot before firing the shutter.
Everyone did very well in the 10-Shot Challenge and it was clear that they were really putting attention to detail into making the shot perfect before pressing that shutter.
After a confetti session with some slightly over-enthusiastic confetti cannons, we set about finding interesting backgrounds around the parklands to add shape, colour and texture to our portraits.
The afternoon flew by and soon it was time to head back to the training centre for a last coffee, Q&A session and to re-cap what we'd learned. The delegates were then presented with framed certificates for their completion of the workshop.
Throughout the day we were all being discreetly filmed by Gwynplaine Media, and a short video from the day will be online soon, so watch this space!
The feedback from all of the delegates was phenomenal, and everyone wanted to know when the next course will be! So, we'll also be posting a diary of classes and workshops for 2012 very shortly.
If you'd like to express your interest in attending the next Wedding Photography Workshop or any of our other photography training courses, please e-mail training@sallymarie.co.uk or call 01341 28 11 93. Places are limited so please let us know your interest and we'll be in touch as soon as dates are confirmed.
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