I just returned from Cliff Mautner’s Lighting & Skillset Bootcamp in New Jersey and let me tell you………..it was phenomenal!

Cliff is like Yoda (but much younger) to aspiring photographers who want to take their skills to the next level. Seriously…………..the man knows his stuff and knows how to teach. I researched a bunch of workshops and went into this with the highest of expectations.

Not only were my expectations met, they were exceeded over and over again. I am terrible with words but the results will show in my work over the next few months. The skills I learned from Cliff are going to take my photography to the next level and I could not be more excited.

This was not your ordinary workshop. We did not meet for 7/8 hours and go home. We did not watch 14 slideshows of what Cliff has done. We hit the ground running with useful information and it did not stop until I shook hands and walked out the door on the last day. We went 12 plus hours a day. We visited 2 venues to practice our newly learned skills and Cliff stood at the front of the bus the entire ride there and back answering questions and teaching. We learned while we ate breakfast……..we learned while we ate lunch. It was 3 days of non-stop education.

Oh……..and let me get back to the venues that Cliff secured for us. He did not take us to a parking lot or to some warehouse. He took our entire class to The Ashford Estate which is the nicest wedding venue I have ever seen in my life and then for the indoor part of the day we got to use the ballroom at The Westin in downtown Philly.

I left this workshop with the skills to photograph in any lighting condition and I am excited to show this to my future clients.

Eduction is where it’s at. I will never be satisfied with where my photography skills are at. I will get better every month……..every year. I am very excited with the direction that Thomas Beaman Photography is taking and I want to thank Cliff Mautner for helping me along the way. If you are a photographer who wants to improve your lighting skills and your business skills, I can’t recommend this workshop enough………..it has already changed the way I see light.

Here are a few images taken at The Ashford Estate in New Jersey (Thank you to Veronica and Dean who were amazing models to work with)

 

This last shot is one of my personal favorites. It is pretty close to straight out of camera (I converted to black and white and did a little dodging and burning). This image was not shot with a filter and there was no texture applied in Photoshop.