One of America’s Best Wedding Photographers + Little Ole Me!

WOW!  I had the pleasure of spending two days with David Beckstead.  For those not familiar with him, David is frequently considered one of the worlds top wedding photographers.  He was the 2002 WPJA Photographer of the Year and in March 2007 American Photographer magazine included him on its list of the “Top Ten Photographers in the World.”  He is an amazing person to meet, obviously an exceptional photographer and a great person to have the opportunity to learn from.

Recently David starting offering the “Shoot With Beckstead” workshop.  He keeps the number of participants small so everyone gets a lot of individual attention.  Last Monday & Tuesday he was in Wilmington and I was one of the less than a dozen photographers in attendance.  We spent two days with David.  On day one we shot at a number of locations around Wilmington.  Locations included the Belamy Mansion, the battleship North Carolina, and downtown Wilmington.  Both David and the photographers in the group choose set-ups for the models.  David gives very limited direction, encouraging the participants to use their own vision and creativeness during the shoot.  At the end of the day the participants return to there rooms to post process their images and to select 10 for critique by David.  Each photographer also selects an additional 20 shots to be given to the models along with their “ten best.”  On the second day, David critiques each photographer’s ten images in great detail.  He gives support and praise where deserved, makes suggestions about how to improve the post processing and composition of each image, and shares how he might have shot the particular set-up differently. It was certainly an excellent opportunity to improve my photography and take it up a notch or two in the process.  Below is a slideshow of the 30 images I submitted for critique and sharing with the models.