I had an amazing opportunity to attend a Holiday Photography Workshop with Patrick Andraste, and this is one of those times where I learned a ton just by listening, watching, and seeing what I could incorporate into my style with the points they were giving out. While not everything could be incorporated into a six hour photo shoot, the level of amazing pictures that came out of this photo shoot for me technically and professionally have been way beyond what I have taken in the past. That is what these shoots should be about, learning, growing, and getting a ton of amazing pictures you didn’t think you could take.

Patrick and his crew really made for an easy atmosphere at the photo shoot. With everyone really relaxed, and willing to share what they had or knew this really opened the door to just having fun. Using a minimal set, with some of the finest models I have ever worked with, the whole workshop just came together. The good part is that the photographers who were there to learn were also just in the mood to work the floor and have fun. We were all sharing our camera settings, our pictures with each other, and generally getting along and sharing smokes along the way. It is when you hit this kind of synergy in the shoot that you really start getting really good pictures, with excellent people to support you, back you up, and offer applicable advice.

If you get the chance and are in Seattle, then you should attend one of Patrick’s workshops. He is a fetish photographer, so it might not be everyone’s bag. Even I had doubts when I walked into the door as to if this was the kind of photography I wanted to take, but with a focus on taking excellent pictures, the minimization of true fetish work, and the “let’s just have fun with it” attitude you didn’t experience anything dark and dreary. Rather this was a photo shoot where everyone was bouncing ideas off each other and sharing making it more of a fun weird fashion shoot than anything else. This was one of those “once in a while” experiences that make for a fun productive shoot. Most photographers who were there shot around 1000 pictures (I of course and as always shot way over that number because of my style of taking pictures), which is a lot of stuff to go running through. There is nothing more rewarding than taking pictures you didn’t think you were technically capable of taking, and this is ending up being one of my more popular shoots on line. Most of the pictures are very safe for work, some are not, so if you go trotting out to the galleries you will want to do so with the idea that there might be naked people in the pictures.

Here is a gallery view from Smugmug – which is totally safe for work – if you want to see the cherry picked not safe for work pictures – trot on over to Deviant Art – that is where they are going up for right now. I am so rating this one as one of the best photography workshops I have attended ever, and looking forward to his next one – you can check out Patrick’s stuff on his web site right here.