Modeling Workshop, Buddha Lounge of Mountain View

I've been constantly inquired on when, where and what my next photography workshop and/or seminars may be.

• When because I only give workshops and seminars when I actually have time to do it
• Where because my workshops tend to be fresh and changes in location every now and then.
• What because I teach a variety of subjects, from modeling photography; to learning about lighting; to advanced photography; and to various disiplines of photoshop.

My last Modeling Photography Workshop in May 12, 2007 was filled within a week. So, it come as no surprise that students who wish to sign up early, will email me with the 3 big questions, every now and then. Unfortunately, I don't always have the answer since the when elude me due to my filled calendars.

However today, I have all the answers!

It'll be on September 15th and 16th, 2007, the 2nd Modeling Photography Workshop, follow by a portrait retouching workflow class, a 2-days event. The first day will be held at Buddha Lounge in Mountain View, California and the second class will most likely take place in a classrom environment at the Santa Clara University.

Of course, none of you would have an idea of what the Buddha Lounge looks like nor have an idea of what images may sprout from this workshop. Hence, Paul and I went to the club to take some shots with some of models that will show up in the class. That'll give you some ideas on the possibilities.

This image and 10 others alongside it, shot only in a small section of the large club.

- MS

Work-a-Scene of Popular Photography & Imaging Magazine

Work-a-Scene is a series of monthly articles in Popular Photography & Imaging that teaches a photographer on how to fix a situation during shoot. For example, taking multiple HDR images and fix them in Photoshop do not count, whereas, changing the contrast or using a filter does. I wrote a total of 6 articles for Work-a-Scene in 2006, 3 of them has been accepted, two of them do not fit the category well and the other one may need more work). None of them were not published due to some shuffling of articles. So, I figured that I'll just lay off from doing more of them until they start to get published. Then one of the article got published in the January 2007 issue (page 52). It's about using aperture to create starburst effect.

Senior Editor, Pete Kolonia of Popular Photography sent me an email two weeks ago stating that their Work-the-Scene articles that I have been writing for them has mostly been published (in the publishing world, magazines get prepped to be published at least 3-4 months in advanced) and they need new material, and they need it NOW. "Sure!", I said, let me run to the wand shop in Diagon Alley first.

After a week or so of sitting around being a bum cracking my brains off for a concept and trying to schedule session with a Angelina Rika, whom I've shot before, I figured that Angelina isn't really that serious about modeling. Right at the same time, I got a message from Libby over myspace. Libby probably got my info from Paul Ferradas. I absolutely loved her images that Paul took of her a while back by Alviso. Libby is a natural beauty, gorgeous and has a great personality. We booked off a time for a shoot in a within a day or so. One of the fastest, come-shoot-with-me-right-away type of request. She got all excited and we're off to a great start.

I decided that we should shoot in 2 locations in the South Bay, around the region of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, San Jose downtown, maybe more depending on the mood and situation. The first location is shot for the magazine and in order to compensate her for her time, I'll shoot her a strong portfolio in the 2nd location, a rooftop.

You can find the images in the Fashion and Glamour Gallery.

- Michael Soo