Although only three people, Roberto, Luciano and Valentina registered at the course, thanks to the professional competence of the Studio A&F who housed the event, (it's newly open and the like to make themselves known), we made the course anyway. Of course, everyone benefited of the small number of participants because people were followed very carefully.

After the first introduction lesson, where we checked some technical and language subjects (quickly because all the participants were at a very good level), we spent the following three evenings shooting.

On May 23rd, we invited Roberto Gandoli, an advertising model and photographer himself, to pose for an easy introduction to studio shooting: we became more familiar with studio equipment and more confidential with a model. To fix a few technical subjects, we described every shot with the technical parameters and the lights layout: I hope thet the material can be useful for reference in the future. Roberto is a very professional model and he helped us to make this job easy going.

Next Tuesday was the turn of our model Stefania, the Italian Kickboxing champion. I asked the participants to develop a little project (in terms of poses, lights layout, clothes, etc.) on how to photograph Stefania and also asked them to highlight her sport activity opposite to her lovely appearance. I wanted them to show the contrast between the light appearance of Stefania and the hard sport she plays. This was not an easy assignment, but everyone made a good job.

For the third shooting session I asked Ilaria to pose for us. She's well skilled for nude and fashion posing and she's perfect for a figure session. The figure photography it's not an easy thing to do and some of the participants took a bit of time to became comfortable with the situation. Anyway, Ilaria's professional competence was essential for a good result. As things were going well between the model and the photographers, we also celebrated Roberto's birthday and a slice of cake and a glass of sparkling wine warmed up our spirits.

The last appointment was dedicated to check the photographs taken during the previous shooting sessions. During the slide projection we discussed a few technical topics and we made some considerations on technical photographic language, shooting and image. I choose to use slide films to highlight possible exposure and composition mistakes but everyone made a good job.

Lastly, the atmosphere of the class was so good that we decided to spend the end of the evening in a pizza restaurant with Stefania, who followed us to look at the photos. We spent the evening chatting about photography and making plans for future collaborations.

© 2000 Ferdinando Giuliani.

© 2000 Ferdinando Giuliani.

© 2000 Ferdinando Giuliani.