Sunday, September 30, 2007

foofing

"A non-technical photographic term for bouncing the light from a flash unit off of a nearby wall or other neutral-colored object in order to diffuse and redirect the light. It produces far more natural looking light (and shadows) than firing a flash directly at the subject.

While shooting the couple's first dance, the wedding photographer swiveled the head of his flash to one side so that he was foofing them rather than blasting them with hard light."

from the Urban Dictionary

I heard this term used by Denis Reggie at Partnercon, and I can't wait to try it out!

PARTNERCON, 2007

My sister Kim took me as her guest to the Pictage Partnercon in Los Angeles. I'd actually never been to a photographer's conference before, and I'm so glad I went. I'm hooked, and I can't wait until the next one!

All the classes we went to were awesome, and so informative. I love/hate that there were choices of classes for each session (times like this, I wish I could clone myself!). I got something valuable out of every class that I took. Topics covered everything from marketing, photography tips, and working with people.

I am inspired, and have already started implementing some of the things I picked up at the conference, like starting this blog for one! Also cleaned up my website a bit, revamped my marketing materials, and am working on starting a newsletter.


What really impressed me about this group of people was the feeling of community, and how everyone was there to help each other. Even though we were all in the same business, there was no feeling of competition, and I like that. It fits in with my personal philosophy and attitude about wedding photography.

I live in Santa Barbara, which is a major wedding destination city. There are hundreds of wedding photographers in this town, but there are also several hundred weddings here on any given weekend during wedding season. There is plenty of work for everyone, and we can all help each other out.


Thanks Kim for turning me on to this conference and community of photographers!