This week, we take a look at portraits and photos that pop, executed by some of our favorite WPPI 2023 speakers. Make sure to check out the full roster of speakers here, and save the date for the show, taking place March 5-9.
Phylicia Willis, named an Rf 30 Rising Star in 2021, describes her wedding photography style as, “honest, nostalgic classic with a touch of slay! I love unexpected pops of humor and emotions. Not all weddings are perfect—actually, none are—and I love to show that.”
The hybrid wedding and brand cinematographer is speaking at WPPI 2023—”Making Ordinary Locations Extraordinary” takes place on Wednesday, March 8th, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. According to Willis, you will learn how to “work through the process of finding beauty in the midst of unconventional locations, discover how to tell a story beyond just another picture, and learn to weave a client’s story into the environment.”
[Read: How to Create Compelling Silhouettes in Your Photography]
Jyo Bhamidipati of Making Beautiful Memories Photography is a former electrical engineer as well as an award-winning published fine art and lifestyle photographer based in Sacramento, CA. She is a lover of light, blur, and shadows and seeks to capture the perfectly imperfect beauty around her through her lens.
In this image above, she was playing with double exposures in camera with her teen daughter, and while playing with perspective, she noticed how her story changed. “After about three attempts—and observing what this shot could really be—I finally was able to successfully align my two shots in camera for this image to tell a powerful story about perspective through this portrait.”
You can catch her talk, “Creative Photography Anytime, Anywhere” on Monday, March 6, from 10:00 am to 12 p.m., at WPPI 2023 in Las Vegas.
[Read: How to Find Creative Photography Inspiration in 7 Steps]
Lana Polic is a Croatian photographer who uses her passion for taking self portraits as an educational tool for honing various photographic skills that she wants to improve upon.
In the image above, she painted her face and used gold lipstick to accent her lips and eyebrows, and applied gold glitter near her eyes. The background was just ordinary thin cardboard wrapped in gold foil but use of shutter drag in combination with well-targeted lighting makes the image quite impactful.
Polic’s WPPI 2023 class, “Portrait Compositing to Create Masterpieces“, takes place Wednesday, March 8, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
[Read: Self-Portrait Photography: One Pro Photographer’s Educational Approach]
Andre Brown, named an Rf 30 Rising Star of 2020, says when it comes to photographing weddings, he like his images to be stylish and fashion forward, with cool grooms and elegant brides. “I want my clients to feel like they are stepping off the pages of their favorite fashion magazine,” he says. To achieve that look, Brown always uses directional light, natural or otherwise. “I want the shadows to provide shape and depth and even mystery,” he says.
Catch his talk, “Lighting for Dramatic Portraits” at WPPI 2023 on Thursday, March 9, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Kristina Sherk of Shark Pixel says that when the pandemic hit, she had When the pandemic hit, she had more time to experiment with doing photo composites and had the idea to create a composite with her kids for each letter in the Alphabet. “I used my daughter as my subject in the composite ‘U is for Umbrella,’” she explains.
“A lot of work went into getting ‘U is for Umbrella’ to the final image,” says Sherk, “which actually required 8 different elements from unique shots to piece together”:
- Head, body, camera left leg, camera right arm.
- Camera right leg.
- Camera left arm.
- Umbrella (courtesy of Adobe Stock).
- Cloud image (courtesy of Adobe Stock) and custom cloud brush.
- Dark cloudy sky.
- Foreground field.
- Foreground wheat stalks.
Read what else went into getting the final image here. Sherk’s two WPPI 2023 classes are “Create Beauty Images from Start to Finish” on Tuesday, March 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and “Edit Anytime, Anywhere Using Lightroom Mobile” on Wednesday, March 8, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m.
Dig into our Photo of the Day archives for even more eye-catching wedding photos and portraits. Submit your wedding, editorial, documentary and other interesting and eye-catching portraits to: [email protected].
