I’ve been back living in Ohio for a year and can’t figure out why it’s so rare that any of the big names ever teach a program here.  Akron is only a few hours drive from Michigan, Indiana and straight west is Pittsburgh, south is Columbus and north, 20 minutes, is Cleveland.   Even Kentucky is only a five hour drive south.   In that stretch of space are a ton of enthusiastic professional photographers.

Well, it’s time to start getting some great talent in Akron!   With a lot of help from Shauna Harris, previously from WPPI and now a big part of GhostRighters, we put out the word to a whole bunch of great photographers.  In the months ahead we’re working on getting Tony Corbell, Jerry Ghionis, Dane Sanders, Julieanne Kost, Bambi Cantrell, Eddie Tapp and Judy Host into Ohio!  I’m going to talk my GoingPro partner, Scott Bourne, into doing a program on social media – and I know we can get him to Ohio!   Maybe I’ll even talk him into doing one of his incredible bird workshops since Arkon, believe it or not has a huge blue heron population.   And this is only the beginning!

We’re planning on having the programs take place once a month at Greystone – an incredible old building in downtown Akron.   The building has all kinds of corners and stairwells with great light and it’s right across the street from the John S. Knight Center, also with some great shooting locations.  I’ve also contacted Akron Children’s Hospital and I’m trying to find a way a portion of the proceeds could go back their way as well.  How great would it be if we could develop an educational program that gave photographers a chance to take and give back all at the same time!

Call me crazy, but I honestly think Akron can be turned into another center for photographic education and we’re going to give it our best shot!

Kicking off the concept, Matthew Jordan Smith has agreed to bring his new workshop to Akron on July 19 and 20th.  It’ll start with a an evening program on the 19th.  I’ll be Matthew’s “opening act”, with a great marketing workshop and some ideas to help you get out of the rut and then we’ll turn it over to Matthew.   The following day, reserved strictly for a much smaller group, will be Matthew and no more than 30 photographers working together for the day.  

You”ll be shooting in an educational venue that only a few people have ever had a chance to experience.  The day will finish with dinner together and the exchange of great ideas will continue.  Plus, each attendee will receive a pre-seminar online portfolio review from Matthew, helping you develop a customized program to fine-tune your skill set.

A few years ago I talked Matthew into teaching a WPPI Plus class.  When it came to lunch time, his 20 students refused to leave unless everybody did – at the same time!  The program was intense and filled with useful information that everybody could implement in order to bring a stronger look and feel to their images.

If you don’t know Matthew, check out this video interview with Scott Sheppard during that same WPPI Plus class.  Matthew is truly one of those photographers whose work is simply magic, but it goes much deeper than just his understanding of lighting and photography.  He’s learned how to get his subjects to relax.   The end results are stunning natural expressions without posing.  There’s a reason why his photographs have appeared on the covers of magazines and in countless editorial pieces around the world.

Under normal circumstances this would be too late to get the word out on a program like this, but thanks to social media and with a little help from all of you, we’ve got enough time!  Matthew’s got a 20% savings with an early bird discount if you’re interested in joining us!  Hope to see you in Akron on July 19th!

Registration is just a click away at www.YourCreativeExperience.com!

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