Mike Larson Workshops: 2012 Spring - Italy Wedding Workshop:

WORKSHOP DAYS:  Tuesday-Thursday - (June 5-June 7th) 10am-Sunset Daily & Thursday morning!

1) How to escape from any creative plateau and gain an inspiring perspective on how to create your photography style from the discussions and the amazing sunset shoots with perfect camera settings to get the shots right the 1st time.

2) Through our classroom sessions and following open Q&A with Mike, you'll be able to successfully assess your weaknesses, as well as strengths and create the steps for your game plan for 2012.

3) Learn how to collaborate with the industry to grow.  We are collaborating with a designer to do a stunning inspiration/mock wedding shoot that will be published.  We'll show you how to set these up and how to shoot the perfect wedding to get published!  See last years workshop published on Style Me Pretty! 

-Workshop includes 3 nights stay at the Villa, Rooms are 1st come 1st served, shared bedrooms(upgrade to private room available for an extra 300 Euro.  Food during event is inlcuded. Workshop fee does not include airfare, transportation, extra room incidentals.

-Villa Checkin June 4th @ 5pm. Checkout June 7th @ 12pm

-Pre Workshop meet and greet hangout June 4th 7-9pm

We will cover the following topics: How to be different in a sea of photographers, shooting right the 1st time, the power of specializing & unique positioning, designing your business to fit your life(with freedom), sales, pricing, marketing, how to brand yourself, walk through the images a full real Mike Larson wedding, A styled mock wedding!  (See last years workshop published on Style Me Pretty! ), gear, packaging, assistants, associates, speedy systems for editing in lightroom, simple workflows, profitable business systems, and more...

Workshop details: This is a group workshop is designed with interaction and dialogue with participants. It is the opposite of a typical classroom setting.  We will have 2 evening shoots, one a casual portrait session, the second will be a bridal fashion session with a styled mock wedding shoot.  In the evenings we will come back after the shoot and cook an italian meal together, and continue the friendship, and conversation as long as desired.  In the past people have hung out till 1am talking together.

Post workshop: Past participants have shared that their success of this workshop is amplifed with relationships with the other photographers.  Collaborating, sharing leads, and challenging each other has been an important part.

Stuff to bring: laptop or a fat notebook and a pen, iPad or whatever you like for notes.  

*Ticket sales are non-refundable & non-transferable.

**In the event of event cancellation due to extreme circumstances, you will receive a full refund of your workshop cost. 

More details:

This workshop will cover these topics: I'll cover the state of the industry right now.  Why to specialize, alternatives to specializing (i.e. being a generalist.  If you hurt your knee, you'd go to a knee specialist over a general doctor, right? You'd also expect him to charge you a premium. You are either a specialist or a generalist, you'll find out exactly what you are and what you can do to either change it, or play the game at a higher level (more peace, clarity, profit & purpose). We'll review some case study examples to make this crystal clear.  Setting the right goals, and creating strategies and tactics to achieve them.  This makes saying "no" easy and not stressful.  Whatever tasks or opportunities you say yes to, will clearly move you closer to your goal and farther away from uncertainty and fear.

We'll also talk about being a performance artist vs. a product artist.  Finally we will cover socratic selling, how to sell your specialization.  Even if you don't have a niche, I'll show you how you can leverage yourself in your business more so than your images.  We'll discuss how you can lead the sales consultations by getting them to share what they are passionate about within the first minute of the chat.  That way you can decipher if they are a good fit for you.  We will wrap up with Character Marketing, and how to use your personality to grow who you are as a businessperson.

Transportation details and helpful information:

Airports to fly into: Pisa with Easyjet or (FLR) Florence with most airlines.

Driving: Many participants in the past have carpooled and driven down from as far away as Belgium together!

Best Car Rental location: economycarrentals.com  (this is where I book my rental from)

We will connect the participants as they sign up so that you can collaborate with travel and begin to connect before the event!

A few photographers from the workshop who have now positioned themselves very strong in Europe! Im proud of these guys!

I want to highlight a few of you here who have done excellently with positioning yourselves and doing well in your business!

Natalie Carstens - "The birth photographer"  http://www.nataliecarstens.com/  as far as i know your the only one in Europe that specializes in birth photography!

Craig & Chanelle are a sweet couple from the UK who are doing an amazing job of 5 star luxury weddings only! http://www.segeriusbruceblog.com/

Patricia Van Der Sloot - Fine art newborn photographer http://www.patriciavandersloot.com - she does only newborn work.

Vanessa Van Wieren Workshops: 2012 Spring - Italy Wedding Workshop:

WORKSHOP DAYS:  Tuesday-Thursday - (June 5-June 7th) 10am-Sunset Daily!

With a background in interior design, art direction and packaging design Vanessa Van Wieren of Alchemy Fine Events & Invitations works with clients to create events that are multidimensional and incorporates her love of design, fashion and food while creating picture perfect shots the magazines love.

Overview: This workshop is for wedding planners and event designers looking to bring a new fresh approach to their creations:

1) How to style and design weddings with a cohesive and unique design perspective while infusing layers of interest into the design of ceremony sites, seating card arrangements., tablescapes, food styling and dessert bars.

2) You will be working together alongside me to create a mock luxury wedding for the photography students to shoot. We are going to give each students the chance to create their own vignettes and study form and composition to learn about how the eye reads designs.

2) Working within a budget and utilizing creative resources for upscale designs.

3) How to work well with a photographer to ensure that key shots are taken and style alongside them to ensure picture perfect shots every time. We will work alongside the photography students to shoot our mock wedding.

4) How to gain exposure through getting published in print and web in the luxury wedding market. See our feature from last year's shoot on Style Me Pretty! 

-Workshop includes 3 nights stay at the Villa, Rooms are 1st come 1st served, shared bedrooms(upgrade to private room available for an extra 300 Euro.  Food during event is inlcuded. Workshop fee does not include airfare, transportation, extra room incidentals.

We will cover the following topics: Designing from an interior designers perspective, finding inspiration outside of the wedding market, creating one-of-a-kind designs, branding yourself in the luxury market, public relations and customer service.

Workshop details: This is a group workshop is designed with interaction and dialogue with participants. It is the opposite of a typical classroom setting. We will have one day to discuss the wedding market, public relations, marketing, working on a budget and branding yourself to stand out in a sea of planners. The second day we will work together to set up and design the mock weddig at a luxury villa in Tuscany while getting to try out new designs that you have each proposed ahead of time. On the third day we will work alongside the photographers to ensure that each and every key shot is taken of the detials, designs, paper details and styling of the bride and groom.

Post workshop: Past participants have shared that their success of this workshop is amplifed with relationships with the other planners and designers.  Collaborating, sharing leads, and challenging each other has been an important part.

See some of Mike's and the student's work of our mock wedding from last year:

Mike Larson Tuscany Wedding Photography Style Workshop

Tanja de Maesschalk & Vinita Salome

Cinzia Bruschini & Segerius Bruce