A month ago, I received an exciting email from Kristen Bass. She is a soon to be grad from the NAIT Photography program and was looking to shadow me for a final school assignment. Due to the WPPI conference in Vegas, my first destination wedding of the year and many other things, I didn’t have a chance to reply right away, but in the end we figured it all out.
Our journey started on April 12 and ended on April 18. We had a short time frame to cover a lot of material. I was really excited and prepared a detailed 6 page itinerary to help us stay focused and on track. Some of the points we covered were:
Starting a business – Registration, Licenses & Hidden Start up Costs
Business Operation – Bookkeeping
Continuing Education – Seminars, Courses, PPOC
The Many Hats of a Photographer
Secrets – How to pay less for ‘stuff’
Contracts
Social Media
Shooting – Natural, Flash & Off camera flash scenarios
Editing
What a busy week! I wanted to give Kristen as much, ‘real life’ situations as I could so, here is what we did:
Monday was our first meeting. We met up at Starbucks, grabbed a coffee and got to know each other. Later that evening, we met up with a local photography group, “For Each Other” (FEO) with the Dane Sanders’ Edmonton Fast Track Group. It’s really important to meet with local photographers, keep in touch and learn from each other.
I had three photography sessions that week so Kristen had an opportunity to experience some ‘real-life’ shooting situations. One was a corporate group session with the Polish Veterans Society of Edmonton. The second was a fashion shoot with my dear colleague, Jeff Gibbons and friend Agnes Klebek. The third was a family portrait session.
On Friday we had a real life wedding consultation with a bride, Ashley. Kristen showed up a lot earlier then I asked her to come. It’s a good thing she did, as the couple arrived 20 minutes early themselves.
I had a great time with Kristen. Here is what she had to say about her experience:
"I had an excellent week with Kinga! She was so much fun to work with and so organized which was a major bonus! She has a wonderful way with people and it really made me see the importance of having good interaction skills since as photographers we are always dealing with people. Overall the week was a really enjoyable experience. I had a blast and am stoked to have met and worked with Kinga!"
~ Kristen Bass ~
