Classes
Union Station provides the perfect backdrop for hands-on learning and spacious classrooms for lecture and live demo classes.
With over 100 classes, there’s something here for everyone!
How do I register for a class?
You will be able to select classes IN THE SHUTTERFEST APP two weeks before the event (first come, first serve). READ THE FAQ and/or monitor the private Facebook group for more details.
SF22 Class Lineup
Flash Virgins – Building Confidence if You’re Scared of Flash
Speaker: Gary & Kim Evans
Do you own a flash? Does it scare the bejesus out of you and is it just gathering dust in your camera bag? You want to use it off camera and know you should but just don’t know where to start. If this sounds familiar then this is the class for YOU! This class is aimed at beginners and we will walk you through & demonstrate off camera flash, the settings we use & the equipment you need and help you build confidence using your flash off camera. We’ll also show you some tips and tricks that will help you add off camera flash goodness to your arsenal.
From Ordinary to Extraordinary: Photographing Quinceañeras
Speaker: Fernando Ordonez
* how to pose a quinceañera ( young lady NOT a woman )
* How to use off camera flash to overpower the sun, usually you photograph Quinceaneras under a full sunny day conditions
* How to create masterpieces to sale wall art and make money
From Shoot & Burn to IPS – How We Doubled Our Income in Under a Year
Speaker: Gary & Kim Evans
Intimidated by the prospect of an IPS session? So were we! Let’s talk about transitioning (at your pace) to an IPS model that better serves your clients in steps that you’re comfortable with. We’ll chat about our story, how we have our workflow and sessions set up, tools we use, trouble shooting and how to set goals and position yourself for success. We’ll talk about increasing the average spend per client/session and provide you with some takeaway tools to help you reach your new goals!
Gassed Up Car Photography
Speaker: Justin Haugen
You’ve been casually snapping pics of awesome automobiles at the local car meetups and now you’re ready to make some gearhead’s day with a custom photoshoot. It’s your time to shine! In this hands-on class, you’re going to learn:
• How to choose your lenses for photographing a car
• Where to position the car in the best light
• What angles of the car photograph
• Lighting a car with off-camera flash
• The most effective ways to place a model in and around a car
• Shooting for print (magazines, posters, and ads)
• How to get your car featured in publications
Attendees will have an opportunity to photograph a small selection of cars, motorcycles, and models in this class)
Get More Wedding Bookings Now!
Speaker: Kiamarie Stone
I want to share with you how I keep my calendar full consistently year after year. In this tell all lecture I will share with you how I seal the deal with 95% of my inquiries and keep getting contracts signed. We will chat about client gifting, word of mouth, social media, advertising and lots of other yummy details that you can utilize now to get booked tomorrow!
Getting Repeat Clients Without Marketing
Speaker: Zsa'nee Gaines
Pictures alone don’t sell you! Your neighbor is a photographer as well. Learn how your behavior, words, expressions, and personality add to your customer experience. Give them the whole package and they’ll keep coming back.
Getting Started As A Personal Brand Photographer
Speaker: Mena Darré
This class is specifically for those photographers who want to tap into this new age personal brand photography. In this class photographers will learn…
1. What is personal brand photography?
2. How to market yourself as a personal brand photographer
3. Where to find your ideal client
4. Client Deliverables
5. What you can you offer outside of wall art and albums
Getting Started with Wedding Videography
Speaker: Ning Wong
Wedding videos. Some look boring, and some look amazing. Do you want to improve your wedding videos and make them look amazing?
This class won’t teach you the basics of how to shoot video on your DSLR – there are many resources out there that you can use to learn the basics of shooting video on your DSLR.
But if you’re looking to learn newer techniques on how to shoot, how to set up audio, where to place lighting, and make your videos better, then this class is for you!
Learning the many elements beyond just proper camera settings to create a memorable wedding video can be a daunting task. Let Ning explain how he records audio, lights his subject, uses proper support systems, and hear him give a short overview of his editing process. Ning will show you what’s in his bag of tricks – his techniques, his methods, and how he shoots a wedding video.
Things attendees will learn:
-How to add video to your wedding business
-Optimal camera settings for videography
-Shooting video with certain motion and techniques to help you with your edit
-The best gear you can buy
-How to set up audio and record the speeches and ceremony
-How to light your wedding to create a dynamic look and feel
Glamour Photography with Natural Light
Speaker: Mariea Rummel
Glamour photography is a sophisticated market. You will familiarize yourself with bending light with reflectors and V-Flats and then apply them in this hands-on class. You will learn:
– How to create your look and feel
– Bending the light
– Posing techniques
Head to Toe Posing for Portraits
Speaker: Lisa Jones
If you have ever struggled with posing your portrait client, this class is for you! I will start with some basic “rules” of posing for guys and gals along with the “whys”. These are tips and techniques you can apply to all clients. I will then tackle specific posing challenges ending with “now that you have your client posed, how to coach them into the right expression”. Some of the things you will learn are:
• Posing basics – do’s and don’ts
• How to direct your client into a pose
• Feminine versus masculine pose
• How to pose hands
• How to shape and flatter the female body without looking too seductive (teen and senior girls)
• Flow posing
• How to tackle specific posing challenges
• Useful posing props
• The art of emotive expression
Hot & Steamy Couples Boudoir
Speaker: Pam Fields
-Setting ground rules and communicating boundaries
-Getting your couple comfortable
-Posing couples –
* Telling the story and keeping the emotion
* Working with angles and how to flatter both subjects
-No, they aren’t having sex.
-Ideas and tips for planning with your coupes
How to ‘Do the Best You Can’ with ‘What You Got’
Speaker: Jen & Travis Stitt
Ever arrive on location just to realize that you forgot your favorite lens, modifier, or just plan grabbed the wrong bag full of stuff? This hands-on class will spark the “oh shit” side of the creative brain into doing the “best you can” with “what you got” on hand to make some killer portraits… and ensuring the client won’t notice a difference.
1. We will cover how to deal with covering your ass in front of the client
2. Everyday items that can be found at locations to modify your gear
3. Other useful hacks for wedding day tricks
How to Be Wrong, and Make it Right!
Speaker: Bethany Ellen
-The customer is not always right, but too often photographers let their ego get in the way of seeing the holes in their client journey.
-Challenging photographers to get past the initial conflict/objection to actually create loyal customers instead of start fights because of the myths surrounding “not my client”
-While everyone might not start out your client, with the proper client journey, policies, and confidence you can convert more leads and create more referrals
-Together, we will go through a complete map of your customer journey from start to finish
-Identify where a confusion or pain point might be causing communication breakdowns
-Effectively communicating your value to build client excitement
-Overcome objections like a confident badass, not a whiny artist!
How to Build Your Social Media Channels for Success
Speaker: Karen & Andrew Bagley
Hashtags, tagging, posting, liking, commenting, stories, locations, ads, etc. There is so much involved with social media it can be hard to know how to manage your various accounts, and market to find your clients. This lecture course will teach you everything you need to know to get started growing your social media, managing your pages, and utilizing it to find your clients.
Things you will learn:
Instagram : How to setup your IG pages to attract clients and look professional. How and when to post to get the most reach. How to properly use hashtags ao market and grow. How to use captions and write engaging content for your followers. Why it’s important to tag other accounts and locations. How to use stories to engage your audience and keep people coming back. What is shadow banning and how to avoid it. How to best use reels?
FB: How to manage your pages and keep it interesting. Learn the basics of building facebook ads and how to create quality copy and unique content to attract your target market. Paid ads do work!
Is TikTok relevant for photographers or just for the younger crowd? See how we have built a fan base on TikTok to bring in insane views for free, grow your other platforms, and reach new clients. Take Content from TikTok and use them to market on IG reels
How to Create Badass, Dramatic Work With Minimal Flash
Speaker: Esteban Gil
– Fundamentals of High Speed Sync photography and how it affects an image
– Pros and Cons of High speed sync
– Magmod equipment walkthrough
– How to properly light for a dramatic result
– Use OCF to shoot details in any lighting conditions!
– How to make one light look like multiple light sources in minutes: wedding Party composites from start to finish
– How to create a simple 2 shot composite
How to Pivot Without Losing $$$!
Speaker: Abigail Gowin
-How to know when it’s time to pivot into a new niche or market
-Updating your website, brand, copy, marketing plan, and social media
-Gearing up for a launch
-Successfully launching your new pivot
-Utilizing past clients
-Keeping the momentum going for the new niche/market
-How to make the pivot smooth
*Essentially a step-by-step guide to transitioning without losing out on their value and financial needs
How to Quit Your Day Job in A Bunch of Easy Steps
Speaker: Bethany Ellen
-Learning the workflows that help you work around the “real” world (kids, day job, etc)
-It’s not an uphill battle- but you have to have the right tools
-Creating realistic goals that set you up for long term success
-Identifying the opportunities that lie within you to design the business/work schedule you want to have
-Creating a client experience that works on your terms
-Busting burnout cycles before they happen
How to Rock Out the Creative Session On The Wedding Day… For Videographers
Speaker: Josh & Jen Thompson
– Demonstrate how we work with the Photographer during the creative session on the wedding day
– Setup the “go to” poses we use for the wedding party and bride and groom
– Help students get the shots
If You’re Not Seeing Anything Interesting, You’re Moving Too Fast
Speaker: Heather Larkin
Many people have a hard time with macro photography, but it’s one of the fastest-growing genres right now due to the pandemic restrictions. I want to teach people how to move slow and see all of the bugs, flower petal curls, or whatever people usually miss when they’re out shooting because they walk right by it.
In-Studio Strobe Lighting for Fine Art Photography Portraits
Speaker: Barbara MacFerrin
– Using strobes: making it simple
– Reading the histogram and getting optimum histogram reading for fine art portraits
– Light positioning and settings of one and two light setups. No expensive gear necessary.
– Camera settings. What settings you should have on your camera no matter what camera you use. (white balance, ISO, aperture, shutter speed)
– Lens selection and settings
– Selecting modifiers. Umbrellas vs octobox, small vs large
– Fill light/bouncing light. Different ways of bouncing light and using to your advantage in your studio space.
Inclusion In Digital Spaces: How to Create Accessible Visual Content
Speaker: Myrna Daramy
We now live in a post-pandemic and digital world, where technology is at the forefront for keeping us connected, communicating, and maintaining some form of community. In this session, you will learn about the importance of digital accessibility as well as what you need to do in order to be more inclusive and protect yourself from potentially being penalized.
Incredible Studio Lighting Made EASY
Speaker: Joey Thomas
FEAR OF FAILURE is one of the biggest reasons why so many never try their hand at studio lighting. You’ve watched 100’s of videos online, watched the experts shoot incredible images and tell yourself that you just aren’t ready yet! This is THE class for you! In this class, I will simply and clarify how EASY it is to create incredible studio lighting for any type of work you shoot. From newborns to glamour, this class will catapult your confidence and give you a simple way to set up your lighting, use the proper modifiers and create just about any look you want.
Intro To Off-Camera Flash For the Nerd and the Creative Brain
Speaker: Jen & Travis Stitt
At some point in your photography career someone told you that you NEED a flash… so you bought one and strapped it on the top of your camera only to produce some really not so great photos. So you ditched it and it’s gathering dust in your gear bag. This class is showing newbies how to get the camera out of the bag, and more importantly off the camera, to have some go-to setups for every niche.
1. We will cover the difference between off camera and on camera flash
2. Introduce MUST HAVE modifiers that help make the job easier
3. The differences between TTL and Manual Flashes
4. Some go-to poses and setups for small groups (less than 3) that can be used on most every session
5. Why flash and strobe knowledge is important to learn and use in your photography