Develop Workshop | Review | Central Florida Workshop

The Develop Workshop was developed and presented by Amalie Orrange and Ashley McCormick. Both of which have their own respective businesses and have been successful in their own way.  I met Amalie at an ABC Networking event that was held at Bella Collina.  Needless to say, it was a pleasure meeting her.  I had a chance to talk with Amalie a bit after the meet up.

A few weeks later, I got an invite to a small meet up over at Stardust.  It was a small group of people that met up.  Purely photographers.  It was nice.  We were able to have time to talk, trade ideas, and see what’s going on in the industry.  Funny enough, a few days later Marta mentioned the Develop Workshop.  Cypress Grove Estate was the location of the workshop, which I was excited to see in person.  Amalie and Ashley were going to hold and speak at the workshop.

“Funny enough, a few days later Marta mentioned the Develop Workshop.”

I had never really paid attention to photography market.  Photographers, I know some people will say that that’s crazy, but I never really wanted to fall into the comparison trap that most photographers do.  You know, when photographers look at other peoples work and question their own worth.  Here was a strong opportunity to meet other photographers that have been in the industry for quite sometime.  Better yet, they’re seasoned and know their way around the business as a whole.  I bit the bullet.  I paid for the tickets on EventBrite and patiently waited for the day to come in January.  More than anything else, I was excited to learn and see what it was that people do.

“The Develop Workshop came slowly closer and closer.  I didn’t really know what to expect.”

The Develop Workshop came slowly closer and closer.  I didn’t really know what to expect.  I had been to a couple of conferences that held workshops during the time that it was held, but nothing that was like this.  The Develop Workshop was going to talk about “branding, social media marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), advice for getting published and working with editors, posing and styling details, live Lightroom editing session, creating an incredible client experience and last but not least developing lasting a beneficial relationships with fellow photographers and vendors.”  I was stoked.  I couldn’t wait.

The day came.  I had never worked at Cypress Grove Estate, so I was excited to see what it looked like.  Also,I wanted to see what it had to offer as a venue.  I woke up early and headed over there with delight.  There were so many people that were going, so I just did my thing and went there with an open mind ready to swallow anything that they threw our way.  In short, the workshop was a success.  There were things that I felt like I already knew.  There were things that I felt were very basic.  At the same time, I can appreciate that.  No one got to where they needed to get without learning the basics.  Also, reminding ourselves about the basics is a good thing.  It keeps us in line.  It keeps us where we need to be.

“The Develop Workshop had Lauren Harper Grove from The Every Last Detail Blog”

The Develop Workshop had Lauren Harper Grove from The Every Last Detail Blog there as well.  I was very happy to see her there since I know that her blog is very active and highly regarded.  Seeing an editor’s perspective on picking and choosing which images to post on her blog was unique, and frankly the most interesting portion of the workshop for me.  Learning about what it takes to get people featured on her site was interesting, but learning how she picked the work is the most interesting bit.

The SEO portion of the class was something that I was excited to see, but I quickly realized that Ashley and Amalie are at the same level as myself in understanding SEO.  That’s not a bad thing.  It took me a little over a year to understand everything that I do about SEO, so I’m glad that they shared that knowledge.  I learned everything that I did by being geeky and all.

“The Develop Workshop made that apparent to some extent.  I’m not a fan of getting a logo and building your business around that logo.”

I felt like the branding portion of the workshop was not for me.  See, I was in the middle of my re-branding with POSTFILM, which is freaking awesome.  My personal beliefs on how to run a business, build a brand, and implement that in your client experience were not the same thing that they were saying, which is okay.  The beauty about being a business owner is that you can run the business any way that you want.  The Develop Workshop made that apparent to some extent.  I’m not a fan of getting a logo and building your business around that logo.  That’s not what a brand is.  A brand is about a message.  It’s about more than the product or service that is provided to your clients.  I could write for hours on that.  Thank you POSTFILM for embedding that knowledge in me.  I am truly grateful for that.

“The Develop Workshop had a good posing portion.”

The Develop Workshop had a good posing portion.  I learned a lot of really good techniques from them with the models at the workshop.  The models were a real couple, which was a huge plus.  Getting two people that don’t know each other kind of defeats the purpose of being all lovey dovey and there will not be any emotions.  This went hand in hand with the posing and photographing of details.  They both gave us all good tips and advice.

They also had a portion of the workshop where they went over editing techniques.  For their work, they do very little light editing, which I can respect.  They try to get as much right as possible in camera.  That’s how it should be.  They have their own style of editing, which I could put into our own work.  That being said, their editing style and our own don’t fully match.  We have our own, so I’ll take what I learned and apply it to our own style.

“The Develop Workshop also mentioned something about developing a client experience.  They hit the nail on the head.”

The Develop Workshop also mentioned something about developing a client experience.  They hit the nail on the head.  Everything that they mentioned was on point about creating a client experience that made your clients scream your name at the top of the hills.  They constantly reiterated the fact that investing in your clients is probably the best place to put your money.  I couldn’t agree more.  Getting that word of mouth buzz going is crucial at getting strong clients that believe in you, your cause, and your work.  It’s something that I needed to work on, so I’m very happy that they covered that.  They were able to go over so many things that you could do for your business to drive more people your way.  All in all, I was very impressed with this portion of the workshop.

“In the end, The Develop Workshop was very informative.”

In the end, The Develop Workshop was very informative.  I picked up a couple of nuggets of information.  That’s all I could really ask for.  I will say that the workshop as a whole is geared towards people that are just starting out.  A lot of the topics that were covered were things that I learned the hard way.  I’m glad that Amalie and Ashley were able to give that to the attendees.  A lot of what was said were things that I already knew.  A lot of things were things I had no idea about.  This is why I love workshops.  The humble, intelligent person realizes that they don’t know everything.  Going into that workshop open-minded kept allowed me to learn things.  Even if they were only a few major things.

“If you’re getting into the industry, go to the Develop Workshop.”

I recommend it to anyone that’s starting out.  If you’re getting into the industry, go to the Develop Workshop.  If you’ve been in the industry for a bit, then go to it with the mindset that you’ll know about 50%-75% of everything that will be mentioned, if not everything.  Even so, you’ll probably pick something up.  Some little nugget of knowledge.

Here are some images that were taken during the Develop Workshop.