Morag MacDonald - Irish Tour 2011

City and Dates

4 September - Bangor, Northern Ireland
5 September - Dublin
7 September - Cork

UK:

Members £80 Full-Day

Ireland:

Members €90 Full-Day
Non-Members €140 Full-Day

Booking form 'click here'

A day devoted to lighting and selling dramatic wedding and portrait images.

Morning Session (09:00-13:00)

Lighting for drama in wedding photography.

Morag’s take on wedding photography is to create simple natural documentary style images alongside some more dramatic ones.
Morag is skilled at shooting in low light and photographing winter weddings when you are hard pressed to get those beautiful naturally lit ‘wow shots’. She is not afraid to light when necessary to create or enhance the drama of the image.

This informative morning seminar will be split into two halves. In the first halve she will share some of her newest work, and with slide presentations will explain how the images were lit and constructed.

In the second half of the morning session there will be a model available to experiment with some of the ideas shown. Morag will demonstrate some of the lighting techniques that she uses daily in her business, including off camera flash, video light and some more unusual light sources. Creating images from almost nothing is something Morag really enjoys; you will be able to experience her thought process as she constructs her images. As this is a practical session please bring camera equipment .

‘Seeing the Light’:
Learn to ‘see the light’, evaluate the quality and direction as well as quantity of found light.
Learn to create drama through simple posing and creative lighting
Off Camera flash:
Learn to maximise drama in daylight shoots with off camera flash
Learn to work with the shadows in your photographs
Continuous lighting:
Learn techniques for continuous lighting on location using a Lowel id light [or video light].
Experiment and push the boundaries:
Learn to embrace any light source and use it to create shifts of tone and mood.
Lighting for portraiture:
Although the morning session focuses on portrait photography all skills will transfer to other practices such as portrait, commercial or boudoir photography etc.
Colour:
Learn to identify the mood different colour combinations create.
Background:
Learn to identify great backgrounds for your images in even in the most humble of setting.

Afternoon Session (13:30-17:30)

After running a successful home based business for many years Morag bought and moved into her own studio at the end of 2007 – just as the recession began to bite. In this inspirational seminar Morag will share how she not only survived but thrived! Morag’s emphasis is on keeping quality high and having a clear and real customer focus brings her clients back over many years.
Creating a style is paramount in building a reputation in a wedding and portrait business. Morag has carved out a niche supplying a high quality product to a discerning client. The afternoon session will focus on building a wedding and portrait business whilst taking the images that you want to shoot!

Morag has always shot her weddings with the final album clearly in sight. She will show how this helps to build a clear narrative and ultimately increases sales on the final album. Important factors in her albums are design and flow, story building and a scattering of drama and romance. The client relationship is paramount right through to the design and production of the album. This customer focus ultimately feeds into her portrait work too.

Interspersed with inspirational slideshows Morag will candidly share her experiences in business and show how in two years Morag doubled her turnover without compromising on quality of experience or product.

In the course of the afternoon she will talk about and show her pregnancy, baby and child photography, as well as her take on makeover and boudoir. The afternoon will be packed with sound business advice as well as beautiful photography demonstrating how the wedding and portrait sides to her business sustain Morag creatively.

Style:
Creating your own distinctive style helps you to carve out a business niche.
Market position:
Learn to understand today's discerning client
Learn to nurture your clients and make them into long term collaborators!
Powerful images:
Learn what it is that makes a powerful image,
Sales:
learn to lead a sale towards products of a high perceived value which in turn will drive more work to your studio.
Shooting for oneself :
Learn ways in which you can build your wedding or portrait business whilst shooting the images that you want to shoot
Storyboard:
learn to tell a story with your images at a wedding or on a portrait shoot to maximise sales.
Referrals/client retention:
Learn how Morag’s client retention has led to many new revenue streams.
How offering different products to the same client base increases year on year turnover.
Business links:
learn the importance of forging strong business links that will help your business to flourish and grow.
Profitability:
Learn to analyse the margins on your products, services and the offers you run.
Customer focus
how creating a real customer focus to your business increases customer confidence and loyalty
Diversity:
By varying the images taken learn to stay excited about photography and fresh in your image making.
Learn how diversity can bring in new revenue streams.

Venues and Dates

4 September
Lifestyle Photography.
Unit 21 , 16 Balloo Avenue
Bangor
County Down
BT19 7QT
Northern Ireland

5 September
Brennan Green Isle Conference & Leisure Hotel
Newlands Cross
Dublin 22

7 September
Silver Springs Moran Hotel
Tivoli
Cork

Booking form 'click here'

All bookings are final. We reserve the right to change speakers, venue and exhibitors without notice.

There are 227 days to get ready for the SWPP Convention and Trade Show at The Hilton London Metropole Hotel ...
which starts on Tuesday 8th January 2013

Photo Quote: If you are not passionately devoted to an idea, you can make very pleasant pictures but they won't make you cry. - Ruth Bernhard