Zurich & Rotterdam

Zurich was great, we shot in this open window light with a reflector to the right...

And the camera toss was now done in its 10th country!

Today in Rotterdam, the host photographer shot these images of me sharing and teaching

Again, using the sunbounce in open window light, bouncing back on the shadows and filling in them, saving post production and using the fill feature in Lightroom.

Its a blessing to teach when people are eager to learn. To see them soak up what I've been blessed with. I believe that God gives to you, what will flow through you. And I've been blessed with much.

Thanks guys for coming today!

Thanks to Bert Stephani for helping out

Europe Workshop Tour Images!

The European "Wedding's California Style" Workshop Tour, is going so well, after day 3, we've hit up Budapest, Vienna, Munich and now we are off to Zurich. Here are some highlights. Everyone is signing up on facebook and making comments, check out the details, tesimonials and participant images at http://www.facebook.com/mikelarsoninc many workshops have filled up, but there are a few spots left in a few cities, so check out the link to sign up for those of you photographers in Europe!

Europe Workshop Tour Dates!

I'm so excited for this new tour sponsored by California Sunbounce, Calumet Photographic(.de) and The Flash Centre (UK)! Its going to be packed with even more than last time, for those of you who came, we are going to cover a simple recap of the basics to an advanced way to grow your skills, and building off the tour we did last May/June 2009!!

This will truly be beyond the classroom and develop real work excellence.

Workshop Itinerary:
Session 1- The Future of photography business (how to apply your dreams to your business to be successful)
Session 2- Starting out from nothing (The top 20 things I wished I knew when I first started)
Session 3- Live Shoot - creating the ultimate client experience
Session 4- How to get to a 100% Referral based business in 2 years
Session 5- Master your craft. Getting the perfect, real image
Session 6- Live walkthrough of me shooting a real California Wedding
Session 7- Q&A session (ask anything!)
Session 8- Bonus session, business tools to be successful & be able to shoot more



Europe Tour III -(tentative locations & dates!!)
11/7-8/09 BUDAPEST
11/9/09 VIENNA
11/10/09 MUNICH
11/11/09 ZURICH
11/12/09 STUTTGART / Karlsruhe
11/13/09 DÜSSELDORF
11/14-15/09 Belgium
11/16/09 ROTTERDAM
11/17/09 AMSTERDAM
11/18-19/09 BIRMINGHAM
11/20/09 KOPENHAGEN
11/21/09 AARHUS
11/23/09 HAMBURG


Check out the promo videos for more info!
The Flash Centre UK
Calumet

Click here to register to be signed up when the final dates are confirmed!

Studley Castle

We just arrived at the Studley Castle here in the heart of Great Britan, and I'm excited, this place is from the 1700's! We will be here 4 days, and we start the 2 day workshop tomorrow morning sponsored by California Sunbounce, Dave from the The Flash Centre, Canon and a few others as well. I'm super excited about this place! But now we are heading on a tour of the grounds!

Munich Workshop

Here is the Studio we shot in while we were in Munich, it was a warm day, 34 degrees! But we had a great time. We covered the following topics,

Leadership & Influence
Shooting Right the 1st time
Live shooting demos
Photography business systems

Calumet & California Sunbounce European Tour 2009

This is the 2nd Calumet & California Sunbounce "Master of Light" tour. It is an honor to be out there. I'm very excited as this is the second time we have done this tour. The last time was in the Fall of 2007. This time however they have added more cities and I have new material to share. The Workshops are a half day and start at 10am. Check out www.calumetphoto.de/events From Germany can call to make a reservation for the city listed on the website. Here are the cities that we will visit!

Munich (mon)
Dusseldorf (tues)
Amsterdam (wed)
Knokke (thurs - The Santa Barbara of Belgium)
Hamburg (fri)
Berlin (sat)
Zingst (sun)
(off day, fly to birmingham)
Birmingham (wed)
Birmingham (thur)
Birmingham (fri)

Stay tuned, as I will be updating images from the workshop. Its so beautiful here in Germany and I'm glad to be back!

Amsterdam Tour

Day 3, and I feel totally warmed up now. The people in the Netherlands are amazingly friendly. One of my favorite things is to hear the photographers talk about the industry in their country. I LOVE hearing the differences & similarities, and then comparing to figure out how they match up in America. The topic of the quantity of photographers increasing every month as competition came up. its pretty easy to get into photography came up a lot. As I was sharing with them, creating great images is one key to giving a client something original. The trend today for people to shy away from “traditional or cookie cutter images” or photos that do not really represent who the couple is. Images that years later will show more of their character, and less of traditional poses. I believe that what we as photographers should create art that makes our clients proud of themselves. Not only that, our character of who we are, separates us from other photographers more than the gear we use, or the products we buy. And our reputation and the consistency of the choices we make, makes us who we are. That is important not only in our business, but our personal lives. Thanks to everyone coming to the workshops, it’s a blessing to share with you guys...

Thanks to Peter Geller for shooting these Shots

Here we are demonstrating with two relfectors, how to overpower the sun with no flash. I am addicted to these reflectors, as they have changed the way I photograph, and enhanced my images with sweet warm light. Tech Details : ISO=100, Aperture=2.8 Lens=24-70, Shutter speed 1/1000 sec.

So many great questions were asked about all the possible problems of light and how to overcome them.

Day Two - Duesseldorf, Germany

Today was great during day 2 of the Calumet Photography sponsored we got to talk to 50-60 photographers from the area, one of them even drove the 7 hours from Munich! I am getting used to the translation and Peter (California Sunbounce) was a great help. Most of the photographers who came could speak English, so they would ask me questions in English.

I felt a bit more prepared today. I am learning a lot about the European wedding photography industry, and I think its a few years behind America. Which is exciting in a way, because I can see how these photographers today will be leading the edge in the future. They are so excited to be here and share back their experiences, which is my favorite part, listening to them after the session and during the breaks.
Today I promised them I would take a photo of all of us and post it. These are the few that were left hanging out after the workshop. Here you guys go!

I always like to sit in the back as long as I can during the start of the introductions, and see everything from the back row. Here is my opening slideshow. Thanks to everyone in Duesseldorf!

We are gearing up for our fall Intensive Step it up workshop in Germany later this fall, in Early November some time. More details will be coming soon! Congrats to Sevda Aydin for winning a discounted seat in the seminar!

Right after, Marc from Fototv.com interviewed me and are going to do a 15-20 minute segment about wedding photography and how to succed, have fun and run a good business. Check out their site, he is a great guy and their site is really educational. This site is in German, but they are about to release an English version soon.

10 day European Speaking Tour

Just confirmed is my speaking tour for Calumet & California Sunbounce in Germany, Belgium & Amsterdam!!! This is a huge honor and I am very excited to be going, I will be missing Pictage's LA Partner Con, But, I know they have some great speakers there as well. I will be posting the details pretty soon, so stay tuned to see whats up, and to see the videos posted and resources from the 10 day 8 city tour.