cliff mautner workshop

On Monday, I had the privilege of attending a seminar by Cliff Mautner in Grand Rapids. Cliff, who started as a photojournalist for a weekly paper and is now a busy wedding photographer, was recently named one of the top ten photographers in the world by American Photo Magazine but, as he said, awards alone will not get you very far! And then he went on to show us the light (I couldn’t resist the good pun!). We spent the day listening to Cliff talk about the essentials of creativity, how to develop a personal style, lens selection, how to prepare mentally for a wedding, and then, finally, light! We went outside around 2 p.m. so he could show us his techniques for shooting in harsh and difficult light. It was really interesting to hear about all of the ways to break the rules and really use any type of light to your advantage. And it was great to meet some of the other folks in the room as well! Here’s a shot of Cliff explaining how he would shoot in the 2 p.m. light.: