Meeting Of The Masters - Day 3

As if things could not get any better, Day 3 of Meeting Of The Masters rolled around and we got to spend some time with Joe Edelman and Kirk Voclain. I knew it was going to be a crazy and intense day because both of these guys have an amazing amount of energy, but I wasn't quite sure what was in store for us.

Joe led off the day with an amazing presentation. The previous two days gave us photographers talking to us about their various specialties, their history, and just generally how they shoot. Joe wasn't any different in what he told us, but he gave us a slick Powerpoint presentation. Normally, you think of a Powerpoint presentation and you think "Boring!", but Joe did a great job of using it as an outline to his talk while actually speaking to us and keeping things interesting. Listening to him talk is like drinking from a firehose: there is just too much information to process!

Not only did he give us tons of great information, he also set up some lights, told us why he was doing what he was doing and let us shoot on one of his setups (see the above photo)! Throughout the day he did this a few more times and we got to shoot some amazing stuff that we'd not normally get to shoot. His creativity and imagination are just off the charts. Oh, he also had my favorite quote of the meeting: "Color balance is for wussies!" I love it!

The next speaker was Kirk and he is just a wild and crazy guy! He also had a Powerpoint presentation and he also did a great job of keeping things lively and not relying on his slides to teach us but more to keep us on track. The thing that amazed me the most about Kirk is that he has such skill in posing (and his poses do not look posed), that he just needs to take one shot per pose before moving to the next pose. That means that 6 different poses equals just 6 shots! How can he do this? I don't know, but that's why he's a Master!

After his presentation, Kirk took us outside to show us some of his "voodoo" posing techniques and also how he works in natural light. Watching him work and seeing how he interacts with the models was so interesting. I don't see how he can keep his energy levels so high, but he does and it shows in his photos.

We wrapped up the day with some shooting in natural light. I was fortunate enough to work with some wonderful models on a one-on-one basis (with a great voice-activated-lightstand named Alexandra) and get some killer shots. It was the perfect ending to a great meeting.

So, would I say the Meeting Of The Masters was a success? Absolutely! Although the class was smaller than originally hoped for, I think it was the perfect size because we all got to spend quality time with the Masters, as well as getting to know each other much better. I can say I've made many new friends and that might not have been possible in a larger group. The Masters were so generous in their time and so down to earth. They came out to eat with us every night, they didn't mind talking photography for 12+ hours a day and they were happy to offer advice, encouragement, critique or knowledge when asked. I think it helped us to realize that they're just normal guys who do what they love every day (and happen to take amazing photos and work very hard).

So, when is next year's Meeting?