Today we were tested, put on the spot and it was fun!
I’m getting tired of saying awesome now… I never thought that would happen?.. but today was AWESOME.. The highlight for me was watching Jasmine Star rock the show during the first look and for the poses after. WOW!
I remember standing there and pausing, thinking, how is she doing that? She was juggling like 6 things at once..
Looking for location/light, Composition, Posing, Shooting, Teaching, Tactically thinking about her next pose/move/lesson and I think somewhere in between she managed to breathe.. Incredible.
I love strobist work and a big fan of Zack Arias. Zack (with the Sagely beard) too has a great ability to command light, explain thoroughly to a class, whilst shooting, his strobist set up, his own thoughts, style of his shots and he can shoot inspiring shots simultaneously. If you’re loving Jasmine’s workshop and you missed Zack’s workshop on CreativeLive, then I urge you to check it out. I fell in love with his One Light DVD and hope I can implement some of that strobist work into my wedding shoots too.
The morning
When we enter the venue in the morning, the scene is usually this:

The team work really hard off camera to make sure everything runs smoothly! Big shout out to Craig, Sara, Michael and the rest of the gang at Creative Live!
So back todays class..
In the morning, the group and I were outside having a bit of fun, talking about our cameras, argued over Canon vs Nikon and which one is better (again!) and I got to take a few portraits a la Becker ”The Becker pose”. I’m part of the [B] School and its been a great resource for me and my learning. The light was nice and soft as it was cloudy at around 1030am so they acted as a huge softbox.
Nate Perkes:

Victoria de Martigny:

Audrey Smit:

Stephanie Miller:

And a few shots of the Creative Live team:


Chase Jarvis starts the second segment and introduces Billy before the first look…

In class, Jasmine broke down further areas and in particular Marketing her business and really thinking about whether or not paying for certain marketing plays to your advantage or not.
Other key points from today were:
- Finding new clients and brides
- Using model releases and contracts
- Communicating and getting input from the bride and groom leading up to the wedding
- Staying true to how you shoot ”Don’t fake the funk!”
- Using natural reflectors e.g. walls, floors
- Posing in a 10 by 10 ft space – demonstration
- How to make clients relax in front of the camera – making brides feel beautiful
- Inspirational photographers Jasmine is inspired by
And a whole bunch more…
For a significant part, we were inside shooting the first look, (described here by Jasmine on her blog) so I’ll be rewatching the show on the downloads to make sure I can get proper notes on that too!
Jasmine asked me to name 3 words that I would want to define my brand with. I said Soulful, Romantic and Gorgeous. I hope I can develop my style more but I’m liking those 3 words right to describe my business right now. I’m glad its helping me focus more to think in different ways in which I can develop my style.
After the first look, we went down some alley ways nearby…

We then went back inside the classroom and had a few more Q&A bits from Jasmine on lighting, outsourcing, the importance of wedding albums, slide shows and marketing your work to clients.
A team talk after the cameras and sound are off.. back to planning.

I’m looking forward to seeing the venue tomorrow transformed. The lights look great.. every chandelier is different … Very cool!

After class broke out, a few of us went to grab some much needed food and a pint of Seattle’s finest beer in my case.
Tonight, its been busy back at the hotel, backing up files, reviewing today’s shots, editing them and drafting this blog. Most of us are still up at 2am but we start later tomorrow in the afternoon at staggered times (me at 3pm!), so its all good!
I hope you get to tune in again. Tomorrow shooting Billy and Laura’s wedding will be special. The whole team is very respectful that this is their day and are going to make best efforts to make sure that it stays that way.
Break a leg Jasmine!! It’s going to be great working with you tomorrow..

Billy and Laura. I cant express how thankful I am and I’m sure everyone else is, that you have allowed us to be a part of your special day. I wish you both the best for tomorrow and for the future! It’s your time tomorrow.. Enjoy it!
For me, 4 other photographers and I get to shoot with Jasmine Star & JD.. Life is sweet
I can’t wait!! Best of luck to everyone out there tomorrow, in front of the camera and behind the scenes…
See you soon folks!
[SK]
By the way… I was going to blog more today but its getting kinda late, so tomorrow I thought I’d blog more about what was in my bag for the wedding, how I found shooting it and also who I look up to as photographers in the wedding industry and outside the industry…