As I mentioned in my last post, last week I made the trip over to Sydney to attend a memory keeping and lifestyle photography workshop held by the lovely Trish and Ronnie from LIFE:CAPTURED Inc. I made the trip over with Bec who I host my food styling and photography workshops with here in Hobart, and we rose bright and early and jumped on a train out to Trish’s house were the workshop was to be held.
We were collected by Trish at the train station and driven to her house, unassuming from the front, but extending into a gorgeous addition out the back which was clearly designed by photographers with beautiful lighting throughout. The space opened up onto a pool and gazebo area which looked like the perfect little tropical oasis.
We had a little time to enjoy the space, and mingle a little with the other attendees over a hot drink, before settling into the first module of the day, taught by Trish. This module focused on using your DSLR in manual – no easy feat with a class full of people at all different skill levels and with all different cameras (in fact, I don’t think there were any two cameras the same). As I am comfortable shooting in manual, I found this part of the class quite fun as it allowed me to focus on what I was shooting as I already had a grasp of the concepts that were being taught. I’m used to shooting food in a staged environment so it was a different experience for me moving around and shooting people and details instead.
For those that aren’t particularly confident shooting in manual though, I thought this part of the workshop was especially useful – Trish explained the key components of shooting in manual and there were plenty of exercises to then practice with to get an appreciation and understanding of each component.
We then ran through photo organisation with Ronnie – that part of Lightroom that I knew existed, but had no real concept of how to use. The way Ronnie organises her photos is just amazing and and definitely inspired me to go home and start organising my own photos – especially when demonstrating how easy it was to find particular kinds of photos once they are correctly organised. I’m sure I have wasted many hours over the years looking for a particular type of photo to use in a blog post or marketing – if only they had had keywords attached from the start!
After this, Trish ran a quick overview of editing in Lightroom, and we then broke for lunch which was delicious – salmon soba noodle salad with a huge bowl of lightly dressed green vegetables catered by Floury Bakery, who also made the delicious cake in the photos that we styled and ate for morning tea.
After lunch, Ronnie talked us through the process of how she journalled and documented her families life which she then used to produce numerous photobooks and albums. While I have no desire of documenting my day-to-day life at the moment, I could definitely see the appeal of documenting the lives of a young, growing family. I would also love to apply this concept to my next holiday – I always start holidays strong keeping a journal for the first day or too, and then lose interest around day three. And then always regret it when looking back on holidays with those who I’ve travelled with and they reminisce “remember that time in Greece when…” and it’s a memory I have almost forgotten. A photobook would be the perfect keepsake for that. I also love the idea of compiling some type of cookbook in this manner, perhaps a family recipe one.
We then moved on to the last part of the lesson, which was using InDesign – something I’ve always been interested in using but despite a crash-course from a friend, I’ve always found it to be quite overwhelming and always put off spending the time to learn more. We were given one of Trish and Ronnie’s pre-made templates which we were then shown how to edit, which simplified the process a little, though I must admit when I got home and tried to make a few edits on my own I got immediately stuck – this is definitely an area I need more assistance in!
Overall, it was a great day and I was in my element photographing and editing images, and spending the day with some lovely people (and the delicious food! Loved the food :) ) I would definitely recommend this workshop to anyone who either wanted to know more about digital memory-keeping as a large portion of the workshop is catered to this, though it also serves as a great introduction to photography workshop. And for any foodies out there wanting to put together a family recipe book – or any hand copy collection of your recipes for that matter – this workshop would be perfect, working through the keep aspects of photography through to design and layout, organisational skills, and editing.
For further details about this workshop and other offerings from Trish and Ronnie, head to the LIFE:CAPTURED Inc. website.
Such an inspiring and intimate workshop. Time well spent, sounds to me. Thanks for sharing Dearna, and I’ll be waiting for your photo journal/documentation of your next trip. ;-)