WNY Models

RayS · by **RayS** on September 3rd, 2004, 7:30 am

Just wanted to take a moment to see if there might be some interest in bringing Bill Lemon (OMP 4278) a Nationally published photographer and workshop presenter from California to Niagara Falls N.Y. to conduct a one day mini workshop. If there is sufficient interest from area photographers I will contact Bill with this information to see if he would agree to travel to Western New York. I met Bill this spring at a function in Las Vegas and have become friends with him. Bill and I also share a mutual friend in Spencer Colquhoun ( photographer and PhotoShop Pro ) who has helped Bill out with his workshops across the USA. Bill came to Buffalo at the end of May to visit Spencer and myself plus do some shooting with some of the local models and had a great time. I was luck enough to have Bill ask me if I could also help with the workshops. I can say that I am glad I accepted as I worked with Bill at his Texas workshop in July and will be with him again in Las Vegas in October. I have learned a lot from the workshops they are not only a learning experience but fun and a way to make new friends in photography which helps in building a network when you have questions.
What brought the idea of a workshop about is that both Spencer and I had outgrown our indoor shooting location and decided with the help of Andy Webster and Max to move to a larger location in the N.A.C.C. ( Niagara Arts & Cultural Center) which is the Old Niagara Falls High School. Both Andy and Max have studios there and the new location not only gave us a larger space but also gives us the opportunity to host small workshops. We moved into the studio this week and are both excited about the move and would love to host a workshop in the new facility to give local photographers and models the chance to learn and work with Bill Lemon.
I have often heard from photographers in the area that they would like to attend workshops but find the out of reach financially. If there were 10 photographers interested I believe that we could keep the cost below $100 somewhere around the $75 dollar range. This price is far below the $600 two day workshop cost not to mention additional model fees, travel and hotel expenses incurred when attending out of town. The details are still in the planning stage until we see what interest there is but the workshop probably would start in the morning and go to around supper time. Posing, natural lighting and studio lighting would be covered along with PhotoShop tips. We would be using at least two models that would be posing in casual, lingerie, glamour and Maxim style images. If the models were willing to pose in artistic or fine art nudes a session could be arranged at an additional cost to pay the models for this type of work. This session would be set up after the mini workshop was over. An additional model may be added if there is sufficient interest in the workshop.
The date would be sometime in late September or early October and would depend on the schedule of the photographers that would be interested.
If you are a model and are interested in modeling at the workshop please contact me. You might also want to think about taking advantage of working with Bill to help build your portfolio if Bill has some open time in his schedule while he is here.
If you are a photographer and are interested in attending please e-mail or call me with your ideas or intent to attend.
I thing that this is a great opportunity not only to learn from Bill Lemon and to visit the N.A.C.C. and checkout the facilities but it also give all of us the opportunity to make new friends and create a network with fellow photographers. I believe the N.A.C.C. is a great place for such an event.

Please e-mail me with your thoughts so I can create a folder and pass them on to Bill. My e-mail address is sphotoray@msn.com and my phone number is (716) 694-0403. I check my e-mail often and other than a phone call this is the fastest way to get things started.

If anyone knows where else the possible workshop may be advertised please let me know.
Here are the to Bill's and my One Model Place images:
Bill Lemon http://www.onemodelplace.com/photographer_list.cfm?P_ID=4278
http://www.musecube.com/sebastian/
http://www.billlemon.com
Thanks,
Ray Sopczuk http://member.onemodelplace.com/member.cfm?P_ID=21271

Andy · by **Andy** on September 3rd, 2004, 4:05 pm

Ray,

First, let me say welcome to the NACC -- we're delighted to have you and Spencer join us at what is now the largest gathering of artists under one roof outside of NYC. I know that with all of your talents, you will be a great asset and resource.

I had the opportunity to meet Bill Lemmon when he was in WNY visiting Ray and I know that this workshop will be a great learning opportunity with a real pro, especially with a price in the $100 range. Having seen Bill and Ray together, I'll also point out the day won't be lacking in entertainment value, either!

A couple of marketing thoughts: MuseCube, the art departments at Buff State, UB etc. I'll pull together a list of Ontario photographers so that you can e-mail them. I'll be seeing Larisa in a few days and she may well have some thoughts on other ways to market in Ontario.

Count me in, Ray.

Andy

djrphoto · by **djrphoto** on September 8th, 2004, 9:34 pm

I guess I am not sure about this. We have events here and we do not support them so I am wondering why we would support someone coming in outside of the area.

We have some great talent in the area that can provide a wealth of information. We should support out own before we send our money out of the area.

-Max
-Ray
-Mark K

You guys are doing great work. You have some great models. I would love to see you guys put on a work shop. But I am afraid that you will get the responce that I got. Very little from the local area.

The Watkins Glen shoot will go as planned. There will be no fighting over the models because it will be almost a 1 to 1 ratio. I guess I need to do some home work to find out why the shooters will not come out for something like this.

I am not bitter but concerned. I will have a great time and plan on doing it again, and again and again.

Dennis
Reeds Photography

Andy · by **Andy** on September 9th, 2004, 9:43 am

Hi, Dennis,

First, I know you have worked hard to make your event(s) a success and I wish you all the best...if Watkins Glen wasn't such a drive, I'd likely be there myself. I also agree that support for locally produced workshops is desirable but I don't think of what Ray has proposed is in the same category (with all due respect to my friends Ray, Max et al).

The difference in this case is that area photographers get the opportunity to work with someone with national stature who does very successful workshops around the country -- but instead of paying hundreds of $'s (Lemon's normal workshop fees) plus travel and lodging -- the cost is minimal ($75 or so.) That's only possible because Ray and Bill Lemon have become good friends and Lemon is willing to do the workshop for a very low fee. Just my two cents worth.

Max · by **Max** on September 9th, 2004, 6:41 pm

Dennis, thanks for the kind words... I am not a teacher, but a student with way too much to learn still.

Anyone who is silly enough NOT to consider a Bill Lemon workshop of any level for under $100 is totally insane! THE only reason I have never attended a workshop of his, is simply the cost. But now in our area, and for such a great price I will be there! This has NOTHING to do with local talent, Bill is a published photographer that has insight to offer that I want to gleen from...

Dennis I don't have the answer for you. Your event just was wrong timing for me. I do wish you the best of luck in your efforts and continue to let us know of other events you are going to put on.

djrphoto · by **djrphoto** on September 9th, 2004, 8:44 pm

Please see "Clear the air" statement. If Bill comes to the area and I am not in the hospital, I will be there. I just hope that there is enough serious intrest to bring him here. And so everyone understands, before I started the WG event I had 15 shooters who said they would be there. They knew the price and the date and now these same people will not return my emails. People like Max and Ray told me up front that they would not be able to attend for various reason. I have no problem with that. When you commit then you should "WALK LIKE YOU TALK"

I will be at the Bill Lemon seminar not unless I am in the hospital. The WG event will happen and the shooters that will be there will have a great time. And untill I can cross into the flimless world I will continues to make Kodak and Fuji rich. SMILE

To All. Don't let your Shutter Rust!

Andy · by **Andy** on September 10th, 2004, 2:12 pm

Dennis,

Thanks for the 'clear the air' post and I hope some of the people who said they'd take part in your event do what the said they'd do. I look forward to meeting you when you come to the Bill Lemon event and to showing you around the NACC!

Andy

MarkK · by **MarkK** on September 10th, 2004, 2:58 pm

Wow..thanks for the compliment Dennis. My wife groaned and mumbled something about me going to be insufferable the rest of the night but what does she know? ;-)

Top of my list of things to do is to work with more outstanding models, attend seminars/workshops to improve my work, do an internship and to enter contests/juried art shows. The problems are my location (2.75 hours away from Buffalo, 5.5 hours away from NYC), my schedual (grad school Mon thru Thurs, family time all other times) and my lack of reliable funds (see grad school listed above). It seems that most are schedualed for a weekday date which means I'm eliminated right off the bat most of the time. Has a date been set for this event? For yours Dennis? I never got word. I know I'm going to miss the one right here in my own back yard later this month as I've got class from 9 to 5 on Mondays.

There was an event or 2 way back in the day when members of this fine site got together for a day long shoot/workshop and meet/greet. Any chance of getting something like that revived? Just a thought.

Mark

RayS · by **RayS** on September 11th, 2004, 8:14 am

Some have asked questions as to where the workshop stands at this point in time. Let me give you a quick rundown:
1) We still need a few more photographers to make it happen
2) Bill has agreed to do the Workshop if we have a good attendance on Saturday October the 2nd.
3) Those of you who have posted here and have not contacted me please do so by either calling me at (716) 694-0403 or providing me with your phone number and a good time to call you. This way we can go over any questions that you might have.
4) Because Bill is traveling from Califorina to do the workshop a deposit will be needed to make sure Bill's travel to our area is covered. We can talk about this when we talk on the phone.
Deposits will be returned if we do not get enough attendees and the Workshop is cancelled.
5) Once we have enough commitments to do the Workshop we will publish the names of the models that will be modeling at the event. We are holding off on this untill we see that there is enough interest.
6) The dates that Bill will be here in Western New York will also be published so models who want to work with on their portfolios can take advantage of Bill being here.

This is a chance for both models and photographers to work with and learn from a Nationally Published Photographer at such a low cost and would be a shame if the interest is not there.

Please contact me as soon as possible if you have any questions or plan to attend as we only have a few more days to decide if there is enough interest to put the workshop on.

Thanks for your time. I hope to see you there.
Ray sphotoray@msn.com

KHatch · by **KHatch** on September 11th, 2004, 9:57 am

Hopefully you're advertising this in more avenues than wnymodels. Sure a lot of people read this board, but a lot of people don't. Local paper, (Arvoice, etc.), camera clubs, local chapter of state associations, other regional websites, even non regional websites like onemodelplace.com, local camera stores, photography department of local colleges, etc. all may give you more of a pool of prospective attendees.

alli_b · by **alli_b** on September 11th, 2004, 11:35 pm

i definitely think this would be a great opportunity and to meet all of ya's as well

defintely keep me posted, because for this i will definitely take off from work to attend this great opportunity!!

RayS · by **RayS** on September 12th, 2004, 7:05 am

Kieth,
Sorry about the delay in my response but to answer your question I have not to this point promoted Bill Lemon's possible workshop except here on WNY Models. The reason being that I wanted to give the members at WNY Models a chance to get together and see how someone like Bill works which I thought would be very benifical to both photographers and models. With only needing a maximum of approx ten photographers to have Bill present the workshop and to have photographers and models visit the NACC to see the facilities. My thoughts were that we would get enough response from the WNY members. However it looks like that may not be the case and I will be looking for new avenues to promote the event so that Bill's experience and skills can be utilized by the photographic group in our area.
Since Bill must make his travel arrangements soon there is not much time left to make a final decision on the event.
Still waiting to hear from those who would like to find out more or would express their intentions as far as attending.
Ray

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