My lecture this Thursday July 29th about the ‘Secrets of Great Portrait Photography’ at Adorama in New York City is nearly sold out, but I’m holding half a dozen seats for any of my blog or twitter followers. So if you’re can’t get in, let me know and I’ll try to get you in.

This is a new lecture with focus on all aspects of what it takes to create a great portrait, from concept to execution to post. Ways to give your portraits extra polish with production value that looks more expensive than it is. Emphasis will be placed on the ‘concepts of lighting’ that you can apply to your own work.

Hope to see you there…

Secrets to Great Portrait Photography

An Evening with Brian Smith

Thursday, July 29, 2010   5:30PM – 7:30PM
Price: $25.00

Each attendee will receive a $25.00 coupon at the Seminar in exchange for a copy of their registration receipt. The coupon will be valid for 30 days towards the purchase of any merchandise when presented at either Adorama’s retail store at 42 West 18th Street, New York, or for an online purchase at www.adorama.com

Event Description:

Great portraits capture the soul and spirit of your subject. This Special Event with celebrity portrait photographer Brian Smith will focus on ways of breaking down barriers and secrets of working quickly to capture the great portraits, whether you have minutes, hours, or days to get the shot. Brian will share the lessons he’s learned over the past 30 years as a top magazine portrait photographer capturing the faces of the famous, infamous and even the un-famous. He’ll break down the approach he uses on editorial, commercial and personal projects from concept to execution to post, on productions large and small. Simple choices in lighting can affect the mood of an image, so during this evening’s presentation, he will detail his problem-solving approach to lighting and how he customizes his lighting to a particular situation, using light to create bold iconic portraits on location. Brian will show you ways to remain fresh and passionate about your photography, and the evolutionary steps you can take to allow your personal style to evolve as you move your photography to the next level.

Special Event Sponsored by Adorama and Sony

Grover Sanschagrin of PhotoShelter put together this great article about Professional Photographers who also shoot with Point-and-Shoot cameras.

It’s great to see that so many of my friends also carry a small camera with them everywhere they go. Afterall, the best camera you can own is the one you’ve got with you…

I’ll be one of the speakers at the Emerge Symposium in Miami this September 10-12th at the fabulous Mayfair Hotel & Spa in Coconut Grove. I’m going to be speaking and working with participants all day Saturday, September 11th.

Emerge Photography Symposium is geared towards photographers who advance best through small group, hands-on collaborative learning.

This event provide learning channels via three components:
– Instruction lectures by award-winning industry professionals
– Intensive hands-on photo shoot sessions
– Round table critique discussions of your images

Emerge Photography Symposium provides value by way of intimate interaction and a personalized experience. Listen to the the stories and experiences of industry professionals. Learn about how they developed their careers and ask questions about key pieces of information they wish they knew when they were starting out, or advice on how you can improve your craft and techniques.

Let me repeat: There will be no large conference room hall. Brian Smith, Tony Yang and Norman Chow certainly will not have microphones. It’s personal. It’s about you, me, your future new friends, a wealth of knowledge, and an awesome weekend in Miami, FL.

Come with your brain ready to soak, a prepared trigger index finger and a laptop to show off your new skills.

Early-bird registration will close Friday, August, 6, 2010. Hurry! Save $150 if you register before July 30, 2010!!!

Fantastic article in the July/August 2010 issue of Digital Photo Pro magazine by William Sawalich with a behind the scenes look at my about my ‘Art & Soul’ project!

Lynne Eodice of Rangefinder magazine wrote a very nice profile of me in the July issue of Rangefinder where we talk about my approach to portrait photography and how I got to this point.

What day would be complete without another post from me about Burlesque? AmericanPHOTO has become the latest magazine to profile Burlesque. Fantastic article by Franklin Melendez in the July/August issue follows my burlesque shoots from 1993 up until now with photos of Tempest Storm, Dixie Evans, Inga Ingenue and the Amazing Knicker Kittens.

And a drumroll please…Six of my Burlesque portraits won in the Celebrity/Editorial Portrait Category of PDN’s Faces 2010 Competition. The July 2010 Photo District News includes photos of Candy Carmelo and Kitten DeVille. The rest of the winning entry includes Dirty Martini, Roxi DLite,  April March and the Chicago Starlets. My thanks to the lovely and talented Burlesque dancers. Take a bow ladies!

EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 Cameras
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8
Profoto 2400 Acute 2
X-Rite ColorChecker Passport
iOne Pro

Click here for a Behind-the-Scenes look at one of my burlesque shoots.

Nice Shout-Out from Grover Sanschagrin of PhotoShelter with his PhotoShelter Blog post about X-Rite’s behind-the-scenes video “Brian Smith: Color and Burlesque” which shows an inside look at one of my burlesque photo shoots. Thanks for the love, PhotoShelter!

PhotoShelter is the ultimate destination to host your online photo archive or to secure any images you plan to include on photo sharing networks. You can SAVE $30 on PhotoShelter if you click this link.

I opened up my July 2010 issue of Photo District News to a fine X-Rite ad featuring me with the lovely burlesque legend Angie Pontani. So my mission for the month continues: Burlesque, EVERYWHERE you look…

With the Deadline quickly approaches for Blurb’s Photography Book Now Competition, Suzanne Caballero Knowlton of Blurb interviewed me for the Blurberati Blog about what makes a great photo book with shout outs to Elliott Erwitt, Irving Penn, Albert Watson, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Sebastião Salgado and publishers Steidl, Tashcen, teNeues and Assouline.

I’m happy to join an all-star panel of Photography Book Now 2010 judges Darius Himes, Monica Allende, David Fahey, Michael Mack, Lesley Martin, Susan Meiselas, Erin O’Toole, Martin Parr and Judith Puckett-Rinella as Brian Smith Juror Number Ten.

Get your entries in NOW to Blurb’s Photography Book Now 2010 Competition! The deadline is July 15th…ENTER NOW!