Saturday 8 May 2010

May Workshop Report: The Grand Hotel Eastbourne

Tuesday saw me hold my fourth intensive REAL World Wedding Workshop for aspiring and established wedding photographers.

The venue was the superb Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, a spectacular building blessed with fabulous staff and service that all goes to make the day one to remember.

A sell out the day was attended by Nick Mifsud of South West Photo Mounts who supply my stunning wedding albums from Jorgensen Albums of Australia, Nigel from Fotoboxpro and Nik Stewart of Aduki Multimedia Insurance .

Although we were supposed to close by 5pm, i ended up speaking to about 7.15pm as i tried to answer the many questions that the delegates asked in an attempt to ensure everyone left with their heads buzzing with ideas for the future of their wedding photography careers.

I really enjoy trying to save folks from the many pitfalls that abound in our business and if i have helped to point them in the right direction, i feel that the day was well worth it.

After lunch, the lovely Shelly modeled for me as i demonstrated a few ideas around the hotel, using environmental light inside and hopefully this gave the guys a few ideas to help them speed up their bridal images when shooting up against it in a real life wedding scenario. Thank you Shelly (and Mum) for helping us out.

Here's a shot that my friend and photographer Chris Mann took of me rabbiting on. I had "known" Chris for a few years on Digital Wedding Forum, but finally got to meet him face to face now that he has moved back to the UK.

Peter Prior Photography Chris Mann

I would like to thank all of you who attended and especially Dave Cosens who was a huge help on the IT side of things.

Here are a couple of images from the live shoot.

For photographers: these were taken on a dark staircase on 1600iso with an exposure of about 1/50th sec @ 2.8.


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These were taken at 1/60th sec @ 2.8 on 400iso in soft window light.


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Same settings and location but with Paul Weller standing in as a groom.


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Same location again, but much harsher light to create a completely different feel and mood.


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Same window but with a completely different look. Its amazing how much variety you can get in one place in a short space of time!


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On the front porch of the Grand. Luckily we had cloud cover giving us softish light as this place is south facing.


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The delegates are let loose with their cameras and Shelly!

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I have been overwhelmed with the kind emails and notes that have been sent already.

Here are a few received todate.

"Thank you Peter for hosting the Wedding Photography and Business Workshop on 4 May. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and it has given me a lot to think about on ways to improve my photography business. And, not only that, you are a really nice person! Thanks again. Brenda"

Brenda Rogers

"Hi Peter,
just a quick note to say thanks for the seminar on Tuesday, not only
was the venue absolutely superb and the food excellent, the actual
workshop was really informative and a no holds barred insight into how
you work and market your photography business.
I liked the way that any question that was asked was answered fully,
and without keeping any 'hidden' details, even your pricing and
budgets were shared without flinching! The only problem I had was
getting a word in!! The photo-shoot was a little glimpse into how you
work the light to your advantage, and great for me to get to
understand the methods of metering that you use, I got some lovely
images, I can't wait to produce similar quality images at my next
wedding!

Thanks again, and I look forward to meeting again in the future.

Best Regards
Bob Rhodes Photography"


"Peter's 'Real Wedding Workshop' was a revelation. He is incredibly
generous with his considerable knowledge, answering all our questions
with insightful enthusiasm. For someone so skilled and established he
is also very down to earth, and as such his workshop was equally
suited to near beginners as well as experienced photographers. I
learned so much in one day: from a hands-on live shoot, to answering
technical questions, and developing business and marketing potential.
All this in a refreshingly ego-free environment. Thanks very much,
Peter."

Catherine Benson

"Hi Peter,

Thanks for a great day on Tuesday, really enjoyed it and learned a lot.
I must say the venue was outstanding, you are very lucky. We don't have anything like that here in Pembrokeshire although I did recieve an enquiry about a wedding at Peterstone Court near Brecon today which looks like a lovely venue for photos. If I get it I'm hoping to put everything I learned into practice!
Well, thanks again.
Kindest regards
Kevin"

ALL about YOU Photography

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