My First Club & MM Shooting!

Hello again and welcome to another Terrific Tuesday!

We have talked in the past about becoming members of several organizations that are there to help us.  With some of us finishing our studies, we are looking for ways to keep our skills up to part and keep shooting after graduation.  Networking is always important in our field, meeting new people and interacting with them is vital to keep our presence fresh out there in the community and in the internet.

This last week I joined with a local Photography group in Killeen, TX just to see what it was all about.  The group meets every other week sometimes in the weekends and sometimes in the middle of the week.  This was a great way to meet other people that see photography as a passion while at the same time getting to know other professionals in the fields of make-up and hair styling.  They had two models that are listed on Model Mayhem coming over for some constructive criticism and for us to see and listen to their point of view when it came to posing them and taking their images.  After the presentation we had time to set up the studio equipment and practice some studio shooting.  Below are some of the images I took that day.

            

At the end of the meeting they signed some model release forms for us so we are able to use the images on out websites, the flip side was that we also gave her permission to use our images for her profile.

There were some Pro's as well as some Con's about doing all this, let me explain:

Pro's
1.  I met some people in my field of study and passion,that understood where I come from when dealing with photography.
2.  Networking and meeting hair stylist and MUA's that are part of the group.
3.  I use their equipment, Alien Bees and 48" Beauty dishes, their backgrounds and props.
4.  Membership for the group is free, we split the cost of the paid assignment for the model, the other model used TFP (time for prints).
5.  I got to practice with a new model that I have never met and got her critique about my techniques.
6.  I have new images that I can use on my website.

Con's
1.  Shooting time was limited, we did three rounds with 3 minutes of shooting every time.
2.  Concept was somewhat missing as we all shot a standard setting, the model selected the poses.
3.  No variations in the set up and the lights since they had to be done in a way that minimized preparation time between shooters.
4.  No control over the lighting.
5.  The membership is open with amateurs, new photographers, hobbyist, professionals all being in the same group when shooting began.

As you can see there were some good points as well as others that could be addressed to the coordinator.  But the overall point is very simple; networking helps you!

Do not sit still and just do what your studies require you to do, go out there and meet people and be part of something!  Do some research and see what is offered around your community when it comes to photography groups or clubs, they can offer some interesting options for you,and who knows, you might end up expanding your area of operations!

Go out and see what you can find, it doesn't have to be a big organization, this group only has 40 members and the shootings are first come first served with variety in the subject matter.  You can share what you are learning and see how it is done out there in the real world (more or less).

Have a great and fantastic Tuesday!