This time the group met up at my studio attached to South Broadway Christian Church.   Since the weather wasn’t going to be great it would give us a location to work out of and when the weather took a turn we’d be able to use some of the church’s indoor areas as well.

With Kelsey and Merida on hand from the 48 in 48 project instruction was again tasked to myself and my friend Erin Cady of Art and Soul Photography along with Maegon’s Makeup who made it out once again to get our volunteer subjects looking their best.

For me one of the benefits of shooting out of the church was talking about the issues photographers can face shooting a church wedding and different ways to approach it.   We also had a chance to talk on the subject of church rules and the negative impact some photographers have had on the industry when they choose to ignore those rules.   Senior Pastor of South Broadway Christian Church Dr. Mark Pumphrey spare a few minutes from his day to address the group as well on this.

Starting in January 2011 Kelsey will be heading out in an RV to visit 48 states in 48 weeks. During that time she plans on stopping in 53 cities and organizing portfolio building photo shoots with new photographers, students, and local established professionals. Money raised by these shoots will go to Thirst Relief International to aid in the building and repairing of clean water wells. As a side effect she gets to help connect a lot of photographers and build a stronger community of sharing and support amongst photographers across the country.

So when Kelsey asked me if I’d be willing to help out the project by being a group leader and helping teach during a trial run of a photo shoot here in Denver how could I say no.

Now the day didn’t go 100% as planned of course.   Our plans to meet up at Civic Center park where pretty much obliterated when it was found there was a massive festival being held there that day.   Wall to wall people, blocked off access, and very limited parking.

So we did what any wedding photographer would do – we made it work somehow.   We gathered at the Art Museum and made that our base of operations.   I fear we lost several would be students to the festival but those that did show just got that much more camera time.

Besides myself another friend of mine, Erin Cady of Art and Soul Photography was there to tech and we had Maegon’s Makeup and Miss Kitty Mae’s Millinery there for some amazing veils.

So we’re hoping to get another Denver photo shoot setup in October.   I’ll post back with details as they become available.

For my shots from the shoot out, I must admit things like this I love as they allow me to try new stuff and do some more drastic editing that I would for a typical wedding shoot.

Here’s a little shot of me doing my thing at the shoot.

The Holga camera is a cheap medium format 120 film camera made in China.  The simple plastic construction and lens yields pictures that display vignetting, blur, light leaks and other distortions which have become popular for the use in fine art work – the imperfections tend to create a surreal and artistic image contrasting greatly with the tack sharp and near perfect digital images we’ve come to expect from cameras this last decade.

Once everyone got their film developed and selections made for enlargements a gallery opening was held at the Eliot Street Collective, a multi-use studio space that is available for business, education and private rental.

Here’s the matted and framed prints I had on display and some scans of a few other images.   My scanner is mostly used for contracts these days so it’s a little rough around the edges, but so is the Holga.

For myself the highlight of the event wasn’t seen my work on display in a gallery opening, or selling a print for charity, but rather winning another photographers print during the raffle.   Shannon Kaple of Center Avenue Imaging had along with a few other photographers (myself included)  agreed to allow raffle winners to select a print that was unsold with the proceeds of the raffle going to Eliot Street Collective for donating the space for the event.

While Shannon had some wonderful fine art prints on display, it was the simple print of the waterfall and wheel in Idaho Springs that I selected when I won an image in the raffle, liking her capture of the scene even better than my own posted above.   Idaho Springs was the first place my wife and I lived when we first got together, and this image reminded us of those days falling in love so long ago.   The image now is on display in our home.   Even for decorating our own home it’s the images that touch the heart that means the most to us.   Thank you Shannon for capturing such a wonderful shot and your generosity in donating the work to the raffle.

They had three photo stations setup on the trail, one of the others was manned by my good friend and fellow photographer Dain from Photography by Dain.

Down in the vendor area was another good friend, and who I think is one of Colorados best pet photographers, Jaime Rowe.

Here’s a few shots from my station:

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