A few weeks before our weekend, Meg and I talked to go over what my goals were for the weekend, what I most wanted to focus on and what types of models I wanted to shoot. I could have picked almost any age to shoot but I settled on two girls about 8 and 11 and three siblings (two boys, ages 4 and 7, and a girl, aged 10).
We started off on Saturday at noon with lunch and a portfolio review. Meg gave me detailed critiques of my portfolio images covering everything from lens choice, composition and editing, to how the shot was styled. I now look at those images completely differently. She even brainstormed with me how I could have shot some of the images differently to make them stronger!
After lunch, we were off for our THREE photo shoots. Meg took me to some of her favorite places to shoot and each location was better than the next. She walked me through how she finds great light, how she poses her subjects, angles she uses to create interesting images and how she approaches getting the wide variety of shots she wants. It was amazing. I now have a much more refined and cohesive way of approaching a shoot.
After we finished shooting, she dropped me back at my hotel for a quick change and then we were off to dinner. Over dinner, I got to pick Meg’s brain on any and everything I could think of. She was a completely open book. I learned so much in those two hours. She shared what has and hasn’t worked for her, pricing strategies, thoughts on marketing, how to deal with difficult clients…really, we covered so much!
After dinner, we went back to her house and her wonderful husband, David, fixed some problems I was having with LR and PS (and how they work together). Then, he even fixed some problems I was having with my iPhone. Seriously, he is a technical guru! He saved me HOURS at the apple store and I am forever grateful!!!
The next morning, we met for breakfast to talk about the shoots and any other questions I had. With my brain well rested, it was great to talk through each shoot and get any new questions answered. Then, we were off to her house for a marathon editing session. WOW, is all I can say about Meg’s editing. I thought I was pretty knowledgable in PS but she taught me a number of tricks I had never tried. She helped me cull through my images and gave me a lot of food for thought on how to approach picking images. She and I edited a number of images together and by the time we were finished, I had a whole new set of editing techniques to incorporate into my workflow. She shared everything about how she edits and it was such a great learning experience to see how she approaches editing a session!
It was an amazing weekend. It surpassed anything I could have hoped for! I am so grateful to Meg for all she shared with me and for how generous she was with her time, knowledge and talent. I know that Meg offers a variety of mentorships, both in person and on-line, and I would recommend any of them! I have also taken her Undone Workshop and I would also recommend that too.
I think I covered everything! Sorry this got so long!! Please let me know if you have any questions on the mentorship or Meg’s Undone Workshop.
