Monday, November 16, 2009

[b]ecker's rocking photography workshop in Calgary!

So...as many of you had known from my previous posts Chris Becker came to the wonderful and welcoming city of Calgary to share his knowledge with other photogs. And let me tell ya he was AWESOME!! We had a great turn around of about 160-170 people in total on both days! My head is still spinning from all the info [b]ecker poured on us, I mean wow!

How it all started...Well it actually started pretty simple. Since I go on his blog almost daily (as you can see I have it under my favourite links on the right hand side - yep, I am his blog stalker and not afraid to admit it! :D) I read about how great his workshop went in one of the cities (I think it even was Toronto) and I commented on his blog post asking when he's thinking about coming to Calgary. [b] is a busy guy, he shoots weddings all over the world, so you can imagine my surprise when I got an email from him the same day saying he'd love to come host a workshop here! I remember staring at my computer screen not believing what I saw. Chris requested that a local photo organization would handle all the details and here is when Patrick Kornak from Calgary Institute for Photography came into play. The only thing Patrick required from me was to prove photographers would be interested so I created a group on Facebook and had over 40 people sign up for it in the first week!! That was a success already! Right then Patrick and I knew we'd have enough people for at least one day. :) Heehee...wrong! We ended up with 165 registered and attending and a 2-day workshop! Patrick was able to get a killer deal on the pricing for the workshop which, trust me, made a lot of people happy and they were able to afford to come listen to Chris speak.

After hours of mind-blowing information we enjoyed great get-togethers in local pubs where photographers could share their ideas and takes on what we just learnt. (umm...side note...Kilkeney totally rocked! such an awesome place to hang out).

A real Cowboy Becker:

Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

Becker in action! He actually shot everybody's headshots (165 people) in less that 1/2 hour!
Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

One of the couple that models for us: gorgeous Polina and Stas. Becker has an amazing ability to make his couple laugh and smile at his jokes and that's how he gets his famous relaxed portraits.
Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

One of the shots I was able to get: they look stunning!
Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

Our other beautiful couple from day #1. Loved the veil cage!
Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

What a great guy! He didn't hold abck anything, we could ask him any question on the business side of photography and he was very helpful!
Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

My good photo friend Nancy Hana and I (I'm in red). As you can see we're REALLY enjoying the time at the workshop lol :))))
Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

Q&A time: lots of interesting questions were asked. Photogs were wondering about pricing, albums, workflow, software, etc...Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

Love this pic of Becker, I think it shows his sparkling personality quite well. ;)))
Calgary Wedding Photographer, Svetlana Yanova, Christopher Becker, [b], Calgary photography workshop, UofC,

Soooo...what did I get out of this workshop?

-Believe in YOURSELF! You're capable of more than you think you are!

-You need to balance your photos and your life (I seem to be having a problem with that but I'll be working on it :)) - Chris was talking a lot about the ways to do that and I'm hoping to implement some of them.

-Give your clients the experience! (I've been striving to do it before and know my clients are having a blast with me and I will do my best to better and better with every shoot!)

-I met a LOT of new potographers in the area and made new friends! I love photographer's community, they are so helpful and FUN! :))

- oh and I lost 2 lb in 2 days , lol...:)) - what? it's important, too. :))

Becker, thanks so much for your honesty and an amazing attitude! You're so much fun to be around and lucky are those brides who can afford you! :) You're worth every penny. Thanks for sharing the info about your workflow and pricing, I'm sure this will help me along the way. Oh and your wedding slideshow gives me goosebumps! It's so powerful! And thank you for being YOU! As I told you what struck me most was how real you are - you're exactly the same as you appear on the blog and I'm sure most people felt like they've known you for ages.

Thank you!!

And what did YOU learn from Becker? Post your comments below, I'd love to hear about your experience at the workshop!

9 comments:

Ekaterina said...

I can undersign each word you said. It was a blast!! and thank you so much for making it happen ;))

Dan & Rachel said...

Awesome job, Svetlana! I absolutely LOVE that last black and white image of Becker. You're right, it totally captures him.

Thanks for sharing what you learned from the session! It's interesting to see that we all took something different from the seminar!!

Svetlana Yanova said...

Hey guys, glad you enjoyed it! Rachel, it's funny you mentioned that we all took something different. I think that's what makes every photographer unique. What did you learn?

Noel said...

Great shots! I was going to sneak back for the second day with my gear and shoot the couple... dang I should have! That's lesson #2: Regret is NOT shooting something. He must chew through camera bodies like crackers... but I totally see why now.

#1 thing I got from it ... I'll post that in my blog... ;)

Kidding! It's how 'the experience' applies to clients and peers. Same sauce, same results... What was that about '..... excellence'? LOL!

Svetlana Yanova said...

Oh I loved the "p%$#ing excellence" part! haha :))) You know, noel, I was actually also wondering how many camera bodies Becker goes through a year..the number kinda scared me a little if I did the math right..:)

Maros & Nancy Hana said...

I really enjoyed it too, it was such perfect timing for us too! I didn't know you started the ball rolling on it! Way to go Svetlana! I'm glad to have spent time with you up there in the front row! LOL!

Svetlana Yanova said...

Hey guys, I'm glad you enjoyed the workshop! As we've been talking here of course everyone took something different out for themselves which is great! I'm surprised I had the guts to ask Chris to come and I'm glad Patrick brought his organizational experience to the table and was able to make it happen.

Hope Walls said...

Oooh - I found your blog!!!

Svetlana Yanova said...

Hey Hope! I'm so glad you did!! :)