I just finished a week at the FotoFusion event in Delray Beach. As part of that I did 3 nude shoots, 2 - 3 hours apiece, model ratio about 1:3. The instructors were Kevin Ames, Vincent Versace, Andrea Modica and Craig Blacklock - all published fashion &/or fine art photographers who are passionate about what they do. Since these are not pro models, and to keep the cost down, the pictures are not allowed to be published or shared, they are for improving your technique.
In some ways these are "paparazzi" style shoots but the instructors try to give an overall theme and see that everyone gets their shooting time. One of the biggest results I have gotten out of these shoots is an improvement in my direction to the model, just through practice and the constant demand of the instructors (and the models) that we interact with the model and tell them what we want to see (while at the same time encouraging them to contribute any ideas they might have). This is an important instructional aspect that I think gets missed in a "demo only" class as it HAS to be practiced to gain confidence.
BTW, I would recommend FotoFusion to everybody - Rolando goes every year too and, although I didn't have the guts to walk up and say hi, Holly D. was at the opening reception. It is 5 days of a lot of very informational stuff, presented by some of the top people in photography.
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