Learning a craft opens the door to artistry. It’s true for literary and visual arts, alike. Photography is no exception. I recently experienced a Mentor Series Photography trek in New York City to learn more about flash photography for portraits. It turned out to be an eye-opening lesson about the qualities of light, like gaining a new vision of the world through a lens.

I’ve written before about the Mentor Series Photo Treks (www.mentorseries.com). They take aspiring photographers to unique locations around the globe. On this trip, 25 like-minded enthusiasts (serious amateurs and professionals) participated. The New York trek was a three-day learning venture focusing on flash photography techniques, in the studio and outdoors. Sponsored by Nikon and Popular Photography magazine, you expect the best, and Mentor delivered.

About the Mentors:

Three Nikon pro photographers, with a combined 84 years of professional experience, were our instructor-mentors.  Their work has been featured in numerous magazines, commercials, and exhibitions, worldwide. They gave each of us individual instruction, as well as helpful critiques of our images.

David Tejada (www.tejadaphoto.com), of Denver, is an amazing teacher who specializes in location photography for business and industry clients, both domestic and international. He has 30 years of professional experience. He is a master at achieving an artistic balance of lighting on the subject and background, for an outstanding image.

Lucas Gilman (www.lucasgilman.com), is an award-winning adventure photographer who grew up in the mountains of Western Colorado.  He was a winner of the American Photo Emerging Photographer Award, sponsored by Apple. While favoring natural light, he uses flash to take images beyond the ordinary.

Paul Peregrine (www.peregrinestudios.com), of Denver, is a product designer and photographer with over 40 years of experience in the business and advertising world. He is known as a problem solver for technical and logistical issues in photography. We used some of the equipment he designed.

The Mentor staff, including Michelle Cast and Erica Johnson, were instrumental in providing a flawless learning experience for all of us, regardless of changing weather conditions. A typical day of shooting started early in the morning and ended at 10 p.m.

I’ll post some portrait images after I gather releases from the professional models. Meanwhile, the photos, below, are from our lighting shoots. I’ll write more in future posts, including some great “photo tips.”

More to come…