Destination Wedding Photography | My Italian Workshop
In my 12 years of business, I regularly take time out to invest in my own growth and development, Something I feel is vital to my creativity and keeping the inspiration flowing. Last year I had the pleasure of attending a weeklong photography workshop in Italy run by the fantastically talented Scott Johnson and Paul Fowler. The icing on the cake for me was that this workshop was being hosted by Graphistudio, the album company that I partner with.
So I headed off by taxi to Gatwick in the wee small hours of a May morning to jump on a plane to Venice in the hope of being picked up on the other side! Thankfully, Scott and Paul were nicely organised and along with Martin from Graphistudio we were all met and transported through the beautiful scenery to a village called Pielungo (with a much needed stop-off en route for some delicious antipasti and local red wine!)
As we were transported through the foothills of the Dolomite mountains we were told the history of Graphistudio and how they came to be in ownership of Castle Ceconi, their beautifully renovated, neo-Gothic Castle. I love sharing this story when I meet people and tell them about the albums they will receive! This was to be our learning base for the next 4 days…. I’ll save the history lesson until we’re face to face!
Scott and Paul took us through an intense period of learning and workshops. We shot around the castle, were shown different techniques and inspired to look at locations differently. Our hearts were opened by Fundy (the company who provide my album design software) to help us understand the essence of why we provide the service we do. We had business advice, live critiques on our images and also the opportunity to play with new camera systems courtesy of Fuji and Lensbaby who were on hand for us to try new things.
In addition to all this learning, a highlight for me was visiting the Graphistudio workshop where I saw one of my albums in production (I cried!) and was able to make changes under the advice of the creative team to the positive outcome for the album! We could see how hand made these pieces of photographic art really are.
To say this was exhilarating, tiring, inspiring and brilliant is an understatement! Along with the rest of the delegates, we stayed in a small hotel in the village where after our days of learning we would drink incredible Prosecco, dine on the best pizza and pasta dishes and bond. I can honestly say I made firm friends. Some even put up with me dragging them out for morning runs in the mountains, through the stunning waterfalls and landscapes after very late nights of sampling the local produce! Over 18 months on, we’re all still in regular contact!
For the final days of our workshop we relocated to Venice for a sunrise shoot with our very patient models (a real life couple and previous bride and groom of Scott). The sunrise was hidden behind some very heavy rain clouds, but how perfect it was! To actually shoot live in the most awful conditions and still create something beautiful is fantastic.
Although I haven’t taken on Destination Wedding Photography in recent years while my children were still very young, I’m so thankful to have visited Italy to flex that muscle again, be challenged and inspired by some incredible photographers, have my business plans checked, and make great friends. Now my kids are a little older I’m looking forward to visiting overseas more for work in the future.
If you’re a photographer and considering investing in your development, all I can say is DO IT!! Your future self will thank you for it. You can only grow from these things! I’d been professionally shooting for nearly 12 years at the point of the workshop and I still learnt so much (and have still so much more to learn!). These guys run annual workshops at Graphistudio HQ, invest in their training sessions, it’s worth it!
Here’s some of my favourite shots from my time on the workshop (some under the tutelage and inspiration of Scott & Paul, others using my own time spent with the models) I hope you like them too!
xX Fiona Xx
Destination Wedding Photography | My Italian Workshop
