I have been looking forward to this for so many months! I’ve long admired Missie’s work (check her out on Instagram!) and we even hail from the same area of Iowa. She grew up year round where I spent my summers and we had some friends in common throughout high school. So, when I saw she was offering a Senior Workshop to show us how she works through a senior session, the workshop was on a Sunday and within my price range – I was all in!
We started at the Whistler Studio downtown where Missie presented information/education to us, we posed questions and then she showed us how she works indoors with a few senior models for posing and leveraging the natural light from the windows.
I came with a few specific questions that I knew would move my needle forward in my own business and when I walked in the room, it was really quiet. I knew I was going to be the awkward one to pose the first question and break the ice, and once I did, everyone’s walls came tumbling down and we were all willing to help each other. The atmosphere filled with camaraderie that left me proud to be a part of this industry.
Whistler Studio is a few blocks from The World Food Prize building and we camped there for the rest of the evening of learning. I wanted to get better at a laying down pose that Missie helped me with and she gave us ample opportunity to work out other poses with the models throughout the rest of our time.
Missie has an easy, lightweight and affordable lighting system that made my jaw drop in how easy it is to use, especially that it’s a consistent light source and not flash. Because it’s not flash, we weren’t dependent on syncing our cameras to it nor waiting for the batteries to power up in between firing off shots. What a breeze!! And the best thing? The images don’t look like flash on the skin – they replicate the warmth of the sun!! Definitely going on my list for Santa.
What a great way to spend Daylight Savings Day and our extra hour spent on getting better at our craft. I’m proud of everyone in this group for getting out of our comfort zones and breezing through the chilly night air when the sun went down. Thankful for each one of them in our industry!
