CreatingYOU. is a new opportunity offered by food photographer, Lori Rice. These food photography workshops will focus on creativity in food styling to help you produce images that reflect you and your brand or business.
Last year, I had an idea. Well, actually it was an idea that came just as much from other people.
Teach some type of class for food photography and styling.
So I thought about it. I needed some time. I know I can teach. That was most of my work in what I call my old days. I designed community programs and ran train-the-trainer courses.
But teaching what I know about food photography? I wasn’t so sure.
The thing is I’m not all that confident in the term photographer. The technical side, the numbers, the gadgets, the gear. I know things, but not like others know things.
But I do know how to create an appealing food or travel image, and I’m working on getting there with general still life. So I needed to figure out what it is that I know, the key points of my journey, that would be helpful to others to share.
There are two things that have brought me frustration with my growing interest and skills in the field.
1) People constantly telling me I needed to have a style.
2) Watching people try so hard to learn every detail that another stylist or photographer does and trying to repeat it themselves. I call this the blogger mentality.
The first was extremely restricting to me. It was almost paralyzing. Can I really do this? Am I allowed to be a food photographer and not identify with a style? Do I have to produce photos that are only light, only dark, etc? I like a lot of things. I have major photography mood swings. I like to be able to shoot whatever my client needs.
It turns out that over time people tell me that they can identify my style, but I didn’t get there by identifying that myself and working towards it. I got there by being creative and putting myself into my work as much as possible.
To explain the second, to me the blogger mentality is that instead of seeking our own path, we try to follow the exact same path of another to reach the same success. This might work with getting traffic to a blog, but it really isn’t where it is at for create arts. We all have different experiences that we bring to our work. I feel like we should let those come through in our photos.
Soon the idea of CreatingYOU. was born.
CreatingYOU. will eventually become a series of workshops focused on creative food styling with an emphasis on creating images that reflect you and/or your brand.
My hope is that it can one day evolve into more of a retreat atmosphere on-location in beautiful spots that pull from well-being, mindfulness, culture, and adventure.
CreatingYOU. involves food photography because we will take pictures of foods and learn about light, but it is not a how-to-use-my-camera workshop. In fact, it simply requires a camera – any camera that you are comfortable working with, even your iPhone.
Additionally, CreatingYOU. will not only be an in-person experience. Through the handy technology we have available, I plan to teach remotely through private coaching and online courses to help you become comfortable and confident with the images you share with the world whether it’s on your website or through social media, maybe even prints if that is your goal.
But that is all to come. For now, the first CreatingYOU. workshop will be a half-day, in-person event held near Visalia, California. The venue is Seven Sycamores Ranch, a beautiful venue set inside a citrus orchard.
We will cover tips for lighting, styling, and finding your voice, so-to-speak, when it comes to your food and product photography.
The date is Thursday, May 9th, 2019.
Interested?
You can find out more information in the Workshop section of my photo portfolio site: loririce.com/workshops
Or you can go directly to the workshop on Eventbrite and get registered!
Those that register before April 9th will receive a 30-minute follow-up coaching call with image review.
I hope to see you there!
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As ever loved the post and so relate to what you say about developing a style. I hope that the classes are an outrageous success; I am certain that they will be!
Thanks, Keith! I appreciate the encouragement!