A day with Jasmine Star

Last Wednesday I was one of the lucky few to attend the first UK workshop held by Jasmine Star. When I first heard about the workshop via Kat Williams, I realised this was too good an opportunity to miss. In fact I didn’t even think I would get a place, but when I received a mail from Jasmine that I was in, I was secretly very excited! If you haven’t heard of her before, she has achieved a meteoric rise within the photographic world from being a  complete unknown in 2006, to one of the top 10 photographers in the US by 2009. Now I’m someone who’s not all that easily impressed, but what Jasmine has achieved in such a short space of time is VERY impressive. In fact, if Jasmine went on the UK Apprentice show, I think Alan Sugar would come out of it learning a thing or two about marketing & branding! Her style of shooting isn’t the same as mine (my work is more photo journalistic) but even so I knew that I would be able to learn a lot by attending the course, not only from Jasmine and her husband JD, but also my fellow attendees.

The course unofficially started the night before when everyone met up for a few cocktails at a central London bar. This was a great idea (thanks Kat and Jasmine!) as it meant everyone could break the ice the night before so we could all hit the ground running the next day.

And what a day it was! The venue was One Marylebone, a beautiful building which was a perfect place to hold the workshop; the room we were in was bathed in natural light, perfect for the model shot that was planned in the afternoon. The course was a pretty full on affair. Jasmine spent the morning going into lots of detail about marketing and branding your business followed by website design and client care. Her energy and enthusiasm is something else and I think she was sometimes a little thrown by the more reserved approach us Brits tend to have! At the end of the day we were there to learn and learn we all did.

The afternoon was set aside to a model shoot with newly weds Rachel & Dan. Huge thanks to them both for being such a wonderful couple; they seemed completely unfazed by having 20 lenses pointed at them! The photo shoot gave everyone the opportunity to see how Jasmine interacts with clients and tips on how to pose couples in a natural way.

I have to say a big thank you to Jasmine & JD for offering up their time and expertise and for their openness in answering any questions we had, no matter how stupid they might have been. I really don’t know where you guys get your energy from, but wherever that might be, please let me know 😉 Anyone can set up a business, but it takes a lot of hard work, determination and drive to make that business a successful one. The course has helped me focus in on those areas that will make it a success, which I’m very thankful for. It also meant I could spend the day with a talented group of photographers. It was a pleasure to meet you all!

Thanks also go to:

Venue: One Marylebone http://www.onemarylebone.com/ (Alicia)
Flowers: Pollen Nation http://www.pollen-nation.co.uk/
Large Rose Cake: Janet Mohapi-Banks http://janetmohapibanks.com/
Miniature cakes: Restoration Cake http://www.restorationcake.co.uk/
Furniture (chairs/tables/screen/sofas): Great Hire http://www.greathire.co.uk/
Caterers: The Recipe http://www.the-recipe.co.uk/
Hair: Severin Hubert of The Hepburn Collection http://www.hepburncollection.com/
Make Up: Elbie Van Eeden http://elbiehairandmakeup.wordpress.com/
Behind the Scenes Video: Richard Wakefield of FX Films http://www.fxfilms.co.uk/
Organiser/general dogsbody: Kat Williams of Rock n Roll Bride http://www.rocknrollbride.com/
Models: Rachel & Dan