Profolio Photography Workshop – Tobago

5 days in the Caribbean building a diverse photography portfolio that gets you hired for the best assignments.

• Editorial

• Fashion

• Food

• Portraits

• Real estate

• Wildlife

• Water-sports

• Low-light and more…

There’s a lot of natural light in our ‘classroom’.

(available soon)

Work with professional models and athletes on location.

Creative Control

Get very competent and confident with a camera in multiple areas of photography from wildlife to action sports.

• Learn new photography skills and techniques every day

• Work with professional industry peers, stylists and models

• Access breathtaking locations

• Build a compelling professional portfolio

• Fast-track your personal and professional growth

We bring together models, athletes, stylists and assistants in breathtaking locations to make sure you have the right elements to create work that stands out.

Workshop Summary

Over 60 hours of learning, spanning 7 days on location plus 4 sessions online, this workshop is designed to cover as many different photography sectors and techniques as possible.

• Introduction – 1 hour (online)

• Pre-production – 1 hour (online)

• Workshop – 5 days (on location)

• Post-production – 1 hour (online)

• Business/strategy Q&A – 1 hour (online)

Build an explosive portfolio of wildlife photography in Tobago.

James makes a commercial photography workshop feel like a day at the beach.

Your Instructor

As a photographer, James has travelled on assignment to Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and worked for over a decade in the Caribbean. James’ understanding of what matters to a shot and how to achieve it quickly, has earned him a reputation that spans multiple sectors in multiple markets.

Throughout his career, James has had the privileged of teaching other aspiring creatives – all of whom have progressed to have their own successful careers in film and photography. James’ passion for teaching, paired with his experience on location, makes him the perfect guide to “making it” as a commercial photographer.

Why Tobago?

There are so many reasons why Tobago is our classroom for this workshop experience. First of all Tobago – the sand, water, forests and reefs… were James’ “studio” for over 10 years:

“I was born in Trinidad and was lucky enough to be able to work in Tobago, Barbados and Anguilla on assignments that really didn’t feel like work… but they were all commercial assignments… very diverse… and very rewarding.”

The connections that we have on the ground, supporting us in Tobago with everything from logistics to lunch are what make this workshop a truly unforgettable experience.

The perfect mix of real-estate, tourism, sports and fashion photography workshops… and a premiere destination for travellers looking for learning sessions in paradise.

(available soon)

Mixed light… and the mystery of a slow shutter.

Studio Time

Just because our focus is outdoors/action and our classroom is the Caribbean, that doesn’t mean we don’t also cover studio fundamentals. On the contrary, we provide everything you need to produce striking visuals: lights, modifiers, talent, and assistants.

Our villa becomes a studio for multiple sessions, providing a break from the sun and a positive comfortable environment to cover fashion and product photography.

We setup multiple backdrops and tabletops to make the studio lighting session very productive.

Partners

The Profolio Workshop is run by The Art of Storytelling Inc. a production studio owned by James and Miranda O’Connor, based in Ontario, Canada.

We have close personal and professional connections in Tobago and work with the teams at Radical Sports and Zoe Snorkel Tours.

Our accommodation will be a private villa – most likely Surfer’s Paradise in Mount Irvine. Accommodation will be confirmed and this page will be updated.

Our partners get us safely close to the action.

We encourage you to get our gear salty and sandy while creating your portfolio.

Equipment

In terms of equipment we encourage you to bring your own. We have numerous Canon cameras and lenses that you can rent if you haven’t committed to a platform yet. For any work that we do in the water, you will get some time with the studio’s Canon/Aquatech water-housing setup at no cost.

Every session on every day with us is designed to maximize your learning, grow your confidence and develop that muscle memory so you can nail more shots and take more advantage of the powerful photographic tool in your hand.

Details

We call it the ‘Profolio Workshop’ because we are catering to aspiring professional photographers looking for a high quality workshop experience and a portfolio that turns heads.

While we will be spending time indoors for the studio lighting and product photography portions of the course, this is a very active, mostly outdoor series of workshops. Generally you should be prepared for some hiking, boating and some significant time on the beach because:

• Being able to work confidently on location is such a rewarding experience

• The locations we’ve shortlisted as classrooms offer a wide range of subject material for you to apply the techniques being shared

We start each session with a technical briefing where we go over equipment, the lesson goals and meet our subject. There are multiple sessions every day. At dinner every evening we review your best shots, and support your growth as a creative pro in any way we can.

Even though the scenes we setup and the images you produce can look wild – dangerous even – we always prioritize your safety. You do not need to be able to swim to participate in a water-sports session for example. If you have any questions or concerns we encourage you to contact us.

Apart from flights to Tobago (and insurance which is recommended) we take care of everything else:

• Accommodation, meals and non-alcoholic beverages

• Transportation and logistics

• Assistants, lights and soft boxes

• Shared underwater camera/housing

• Rental gear available

Stunning locations, striking backgrounds, talent, lights and assistants.

Keep your long lens handy – wildlife just “happens”.

Investment

The total cost for this workshop is $6000 USD

• Airfare to Tobago is not included

• Accommodation is included because our villa doubles as a classroom

• A non-refundable deposit of 10% ($800) is required to secure your space in the workshop

• A payment of 60% ($4,800) payment is due 90 days prior to the workshop start date. We will refund this payment if you need to cancel your attendance with more than 30 days before the start of the workshop

• The remaining 30% ($2,400) is due 30 days before the start of the workshop

• No refunds are provided once we are within 30 days of the start of the workshop

What We Cover

This workshop is highly experiential, giving you the opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone, achieve personal and professional growth and fastback a solid portfolio.

Here’s some of what we cover along the way:

• Our secret for making impactful images

• Working with talent – models and athletes

• Leveraging the location

• Working with assistants

• Lighting on location – natural, bounce and flash

• Long exposure and low light techniques

• Techniques specific to wildlife, editorial, tourism, sports, studio, fashion and real estate photography

• How cameras, lenses, flashes and underwater housings work

• The “safe”… and the “un-safe” shot

• Editing in Adobe Lightroom

• Photography business and marketing insights

• A positive, creative, entrepreneurial approach to problem solving on location and on set.

If you have any questions or concerns we encourage you to contact us.

Get hands-on time with our Aquatech underwater housing and Canon EOS 1DC.

(available soon)

AOS Canada
31 Spencer Ave
Orangeville
Ontario
L9W 5E6
Canada
(519) 938-0776

AOS Caribbean
1 De Verteuil St.
Woodbrook
Port-of-Spain
Trinidad
West Indies
(868) 788-8925

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