Back in February 2012 I down headed to Las Vegas, NV during our yearly WPPI convention (a gigantic photographer’s get together) so I could attend a workshop I had wanted to take for a very long time and was finally able to do it. The workshop was with Simply Bloom Photography, a photographer duo whose work I adored. I was so excited to attend as it was my first workshop and I felt like it would really help me grow my knowledge of photography both the business side and the artistic side. However, I, along with 27 other attendees (yes you heard that right 27!) left extremely disappointed. I haven’t written this review or shared these images for so long because I was so upset at how the workshop was handled and how we were treated after the workshop when we came to them with our concerns about it. It was appalling. I was shocked that photographer’s, especially two I really looked up to, acted this way. I won’t go into a ton of detail because you can find it written out very well HERE and HERE and HERE but I will say that I feel like my money was stolen. We basically paid almost $1000 to be able to shoot the following pictures. You could say it was a very expensive shoot out. There was no teaching on camera settings, how to shoot well in back lighting, how to pose, how to edit. As a matter of fact they conveniently said their computer broke just as they were about to show us some editing techniques which I found someone from a different one of their workshop said happened to them….very interesting. So we didn’t learn how to edit which was part of the reason we paid what we paid. There was no instruction at all during shooting and in facet we were yelled at to get out of their way a few times so they could shoot. It’s a running joke between us how many of our shots were ruined because they were constantly in the picture and would not let us get the pose. I could go on and on….

I normally would never write something like this but because of how scammed we were, and not just the attendees but also the other people who contributed to putting this together, I feel like people need to be aware and educated about workshops before they drop their hard earned money on them. As photographers we work REALLY hard, and to lose that much money on something that is supposed to help your business not hurt it is just not ok. Photographers should be supporting other photographers, especially if you are a workshop teacher. You should be doing it for the love of teaching and the love of photography…not for the love of money.

On a positive note, I met some amazing girls at this workshop and we’ve since bonded after this crazy experience and I’m grateful for that. We got to shoot this beautifully styled shoot and this gorgeous couple in the beautiful light of the Las Vegas desert. Thanks to Lauren from Every Last Detail for her hard work in styling the shoot. And thanks for Brandon and Jessica for being such great and patient models. And finally thanks to all the other girls for being supportive of each other and teaching each other the things we should have learned at the workshop.

That amazing dress: Claire La Faye

Can you believe how amazing this light is in the Las Vegas desert?