I’m just fresh off attending two great days at the Golden Gate School of Photography, held at Mills College in Oakland. I studied under one of America’s top portrait photographers Matthew Jordan Smith for his course entitled: “Turning Passion Into Profit: Contemporary Portraits”.

I had first read about Matthew Jordan Smith in a Photography magazine and later watched him on America’s Next Top Model. I knew he was a top celebrity and fashion photography but seeing his work up close and personal just blew me away. His personality made the initial impact because he was the genuine article: a true artist with passion for his work and making people feel good and ultimately, look good.

So for two days, we poured over various topics from producing the photography session, motivating the subject, mastering light set-ups, dealing with clients and branding work.

It was an awesome two days, learning and refreshing our minds to come back to work with new ideas and new motivation!