Editorial Portraits in Natural Light

Being a working portrait photographer today requires a strong vision, sense of self, and an ability to quickly react and adapt to your surroundings. Building and nurturing relationships and connections is equally vital. It is extremely important for photographers to develop trusting and empowering relationships, not only with those who we portray, but also with our assistants, editors, and clients.

In this five-day workshop in Santa Fe, photographer Celeste Sloman shares a variety of techniques and lessons she learned throughout her career as a commercial and editorial photographer. Celeste guides the participants through her process—from conceptualizing an idea to executing that idea in a photograph, and from building relationships with talent to finishing jobs—encouraging each participant to develop their own vision through the medium of portraiture.

During this engaging week we work together and focus on making portraits on location with natural light, using shapers and modifiers to achieve our lighting goals. We work with models on location, making considered decisions about the lighting, tone, and composition of our portraits. We treat our assignments as actual editorial assignments and work together through the entire process of a photoshoot from pre-production to post-production.

You leave Santa Fe with a new community of like-minded friends and a better understanding of your own practice after honing your skills and learning new techniques from Celeste and the group.