RETREAT 2021 | A WEDDING WORKSHOP

Stephanie and I are blessed to have had the opportunity to photograph several hundred weddings over the last 13 years. We have each had the honor (and pressure!) of being the primary photographers at hundreds of weddings as well. The experience and confidence that we’ve gained from getting to photograph so many amazing weddings has been invaluable. But, this definitely wasn’t always the case. I remember standing at my very first wedding and being SO nervous. Like, ridiculously nervous. It’s sounds silly, but I remember being afraid that I would constantly get in the way. What should I even be taking pictures of? I was honestly terrified that I might be in the wrong place at the wrong time and miss something amazing happening. Even worse, what if I didn’t get a good shot of an important event like the first kiss?

Wedding days are often fast paced, constantly moving and ever-changing events. For many of us when we first begin our careers, photographing a wedding can feel a bit like drinking through a fire hose. It can seriously feel like organized chaos. Photographing a wedding for many of us can also be super intimidating if you haven’t had much experience. One day Stephanie had an idea; what if we could help other aspiring wedding photographers by sharing ALL of the knowledge we have gained over the years? What if we could help build a sense of “community over competition”? We’ve had so many aspiring photographers reach out and contact us over the years to ask about wedding photography. I think that really helped us both realize that many people want to learn. So many people truly do care about improving their individual photography skills and learning how to photograph a wedding. People really do care about getting better, there just aren’t many resources to help with that…until now. Introducing, RETREAT 2021!

RETREAT 2021 is a Two Day Wedding Workshop taking place on Saturday, September 18th and Sunday, September 19th at Snowy Mountain Lodge in the beautiful Snowy Range mountains in Centennial, Wyoming. Stephanie and I will be sharing EVERYTHING we have learned over the past decade as we deconstruct an entire wedding day and work closely with our students, step by step, as we navigate through every aspect of the wedding photography process. Day One of RETREAT 2021 will begin with an intense and incredibly important classroom session as we deconstruct an entire wedding day on paper. After deconstructing the wedding in the classroom, Stephanie and I will ask our students to grab all of their camera gear as we take a hands-on teaching approach and lead them through photographing a recreated, real life wedding day with bride and groom models. We will all spend the entire afternoon and early evening of Day One photographing the following wedding day events:

GETTING READY

WEDDING DETAILS

CEREMONY

CREATIVE BRIDAL SHOTS

RECEPTION

Day Two of RETREAT 2021 will begin with a recap of Day One, a feedback and review of images from the recreated wedding as well as a Q&A to answer any and all questions students will have. Day Two will conclude with an introduction to photo editing and processing and students will be on their way and heading home around lunchtime.

Here are some photos from last year’s workshop:

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The investment for RETREAT 2021 is $700 and includes the following:
– 2 days of intense learning (Day One – 9am to 7pm and Day Two – 8am to 12pm)
– RETREAT 2021 Workbook with an entire wedding photography curriculum
– RETREAT 2021 Journal for note taking throughout the workshop
– Two nights cabin stay (Friday & Saturday night) at Snowy Mountain Lodge (the large, two-story cabins have an occupancy of up to 3 students)
– All meals, drinks and snacks (Day One – breakfast, lunch, dinner and Day Two – breakfast)
– Wedding Portfolio review by Rick and Stephanie

*To reserve a seat at the workshop, $200.00 is due as a non refundable deposit. The remaining balance of $500 must be paid by September 1, 2021 in order to attend the workshop*

Spots are VERY limited for RETREAT 2021. For more information or to reserve your spot please call us at (307) 399-3597 or email us at ardentphoto@gmail.com. In order to learn and get the most benefit from RETREAT 2021, a basic knowledge of how to photograph in manual mode is recommended.