As you might know I am an old time member of ANFM (National association of wedding photographers), the most important association for wedding photographer, and every year they put on a great event with guests, masterclasses, sponsors, parties and mostly chances to build up your own network with colleagues you appreciate.

I was really proud when I was asked to think about a Masterclass I could have in 2023 and I thought that “working with flash and ambient light” would have been a cool topic since most of my colleagues are not used to working with flashes in daylight, something that I usually do for campaigns and outdoor portraits (I do not use them for weddings, that would be against my attitude with the couples).

At first we started with a masterclass for 15 attendees, then we had so many people wanting to partecipate that we had to make 3 masterclasses with so much more people since we did not want people not to be able to join us.

The venue was beautiful and the organization was pretty perfect, I had never been to Matera so I really appreciated the choice of the location (I admit I was not so convinced since it has no great connections to airports or trains but I was happy I was wrong).

I arrived on tuesday afternoon with a flight from Pisa and I had the chance to scout the location and the city, I decided I would have moved outside the room to let people try to shoot in different conditions, there was a magnificent view on the valley and the old city that I wanted to have in my pictures.

DAY 1

I started with an introduction about flash photography in daylight (why, how, when), I have shown some pics and informed the attendees about what they would be doing outside, we packed some gear and we went out.

IT WAS FREEZING COLD AND THE WIND WAS CRAZY !

We went to a court to have some shelter from the wind and, after a couple of pictures to show what we could do, I let the people try themselves

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These are some pictures I took to let them have an idea of what we could do even with a basic setting and both flat and harsh light, thanks to Letizia Di Candia for posing for us.

at the end of the masterclass we also took some pics just for the fun of it, this time in natural light

DAY 2

Another superwindy and cold day but our model Elena was so great even with such a bad weather that we were able to shoot anyway. At the end of the shooting we could not feel our hands anymore so we went back to Palazzo Malvini Malvezzi, our beautiful location, to try some indoor shots to show how to use or to kill ambient lights

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these are some of the pics I took on day 2 with Elena, the wind, the cold, the penguins and the polar bears

DAY 3

It was my “free of assignments” day but my friends and colleagues Simona and Adriano asked for some pictures, how could I say no? here’s a few of the pics we took, I tried to combine two of the colors you could find the most in their own pics, blue and yellow.

DAY 4

Finally some spring has arrived!

on the last day we were able to go outside with 2 models (Elisa Pandolfo and Giorgia Muanca) to show how to handle a very very very harsh light at 2.30 pm using a flash

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(2 beautiful photobombs by Diego Giusti and Diego Peoli)

Could I say no to my friend and great colleague Sara Lorenzoni for a portrait session ? no, I could not so we spent 25 minutes nearby the venue looking for some shots, it was cool and I am glad we did it

I came back for the annual Gala dinner but I found the time to shoot some red carpet inspired pics to Guido Harari, The Richters and Ben & Erin Chrisman, it was the perfect ending to such an amazing event

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DAY 5

I could finally have some time for tourism and it was totally worth it!

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It was great for me being amongst so many talented photographers and having the honor to show them something different from the usual wedding related stuff, I can’t wait for 2024 convention

If you want to have a one-to-one session with me, just click here for informations https://www.mipstudiowedding.com/index.php/one-to-one-sessions/

p.s.

A lot of people is asking me what gear I used on the shootings and it was Sony A7iii + 35 1.4 zeiss + 85 1.8 zeiss

and as lights I used my personal Godox AD600 and Godox AD200, as diffuser it was a nice neewer octa 120cm (very easy and quick to use).

I had to travel by plane so I went for a very basic but eclectic setup and I think it was the smartest choice

p.p.s.s.

did anyone say LED LIGHTING PORTRAIT SESSIONS for 2024? 😉