This post is going to be more for my fellow photographer friends… But there will be nice pictures, so at least check them out. 
In March Janna and I had the opportunity to fly down to Denver and attend a personal workshop with Colorado Wedding Photographers Andy & Angie Wood from A&A Photography. To add to that, we had won the seats through an auction to benefit Thirst Relief International. So all of the cost of the workshop was donated to Thirst Relief, which is super cool, and very generous of Andy and Angie!
First off, I have to say that Andy and Angie were a pleasure to work with from the very beginning. We spent a good bit of time back and forth via email trying to get a date sorted out, and also just what we wanted to cover during the day. Angie covered most of this with us, and she was even nicer in person than she was via email.
Also, we had some trouble getting a rental car for the day we had scheduled, and in the end they just offered to come to the airport and pick us up – which was a huge blessing and also saved a lot of headache. I did offer to pay them, but they refused. So they picked us at about 7:45 that morning, and we headed off to get some breakfast (which they also would not let me pay for) and talk a little bit about the day, and our business. We had decided to spend the morning talking about business and SEO related subjects, and spend the afternoon shooting and going over some off camera flash techniques.
After our breakfast Q&A session, we moved down the street to a coffee shop to talk in more detail about SEO and biz related matters. (We also randomly saw a good friend of mine at the coffee shop – small world – Hi Addy!) The morning session was awesome. I learned so much in a short amount of time! And and Angie were very knowledgeable when it comes to SEO, and had great advice for business in general as well. They were also totally transparent when it came to questions about their own business, which was helpful and refreshing. I really think the morning session more than made the trip worth it all on its own.
So, after we grabbed a snack for the road, we met up with Andy and Angie’s assistant, Charlotte. She was going to be our model for our afternoon lighting session – which she did a great job as and was a totally trooper! Once again I think both Janna and I found that they were very knowledgeable on the subject – and even more than that, they were patient and kind teachers.
I think that it is worth noting that throughout the day we found Andy and Angie to be a total pleasure to work with. They have a passion for teaching that shows, and they do it well. They were (and still are!) genuinely interested in seeing us succeed and helping us better our skills and our business. There was no question that was off limits, and even more important, I think, was that there was no stupid questions to them. It was the kind of environment that you felt like you could truly learn in – and we did!
To top off the evening we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (which they finally conceded to let me buy) before we had to head back to the airport. Nothing like a good meal to end a good day! We learned a ton, and also had a ton of fun in the process. I think I can safely say I would recommend Andy and Angie’s workshop to anyone looking to spend the day with some quality people and learn a few things. Or just hang out for a good time! Thanks guys!
And because I promised… Here are a few pictures from the afternoon – feel free t leave Charlotte some love in the comments section!
Chris
You are a WONDERFUL photographer Chris! I’m so impressed!