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The saying is “Third Time Is the Charm.” Everything that happened at the recent Shoot the Centerfold Photo Workshop/Seminar in Las Vegas proved the adage. This was STC’s third event, the second at The Tropicana in Vegas with the first in Miami. It was another sold out experience with over 100 participants enjoying three jammed-packed days of instruction, demonstration and information by three of the world’s leading glamour photographers and two of the premier photo editor/producers in the business.

STC workshops are designed to instruct and inform photographers with a wide range of talents and goals. This workshop included avid amateurs simply looking to improve their picture taking skills to entrepreneurial professionals operating their own studios and shooting everything for portraits to weddings to graduations to boudoir to highly skilled professionals looking to hone their lighting techniques. The feedback surveys indicated that nearly every attendee added to their knowledge of photography and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The most common quote heard “This was the best, most instructive photography workshop I’ve ever attended.”

The instructors were again the three STC mainstays: Arny Freytag, long-time Playboy photographer who has countless published Playboy Playmates, pictorials and cover to his credit; Jarmo Pohjaniemi who works Playboy out of South Florida and shoots everything from glamour to fashion to fine art; David Mecey, another experienced veteran photographer who has made a successful career shooting glamour and a myriad of other subjects from his Los Angeles base. In addition, Gary Cole, Photography Director of Playboy Magazine for over 30 years, and Jeff Cohen, photographer, producer and long-time Publisher of Playboy’s Special Editions, were there to share their wisdom and experience as well as personally reviewing and critiquing the portfolios of interested participants.

New to this event were optional Friday sessions with Arny and David providing insight into how they approach their work and Jarmo offering for the first time a session on digital video with emphasis on the extraordinary results that can be achieved on an affordable budget.

The main event got underway Saturday morning with brief introductions and remarks from Arny, Jarmo and David and some further remarks from Gary and Jeff covering a wide range of topics of interest to anyone interested in becoming a better photographer. A lively question and answer period followed. Also, sample model and location releases were passed out as well as some actual Playmate Data Sheets for whenever any of the participants encountered a potential Playmate in their work and travels.

STC events are highly organized and handled on a small group basis to provide as much one-on-one time with each photographer and editor as possible. Groups of approximately ten each were assigned an ambassador (which coincidentally happened to be a very pretty girl) who guided through the various instructional stations and sessions over the next two days.

There were a total of five sets ranging from Arny’s classic and complicated Playboy lighting situation to Jarmo’s emphasis on high key that works well not only for Playboy but for fashion clients as well to David Mecey’s less is more approach in which he demonstrated how to shoot great images using 1 to 3 lights.

Not everyone has the talent or equipment to put together a full Arny Freytag set. However, most participants were delighted to see how he goes about what he does, how he sets and utilizes each light, the attention to detail that’s paid to every element in the photograph. A quote from participant Kevin Palmer, a professional photographer with a studio in Thunder Bay, Ontario—“Watching Arny light each aspect of his set, seeing the way he can control, diminish and emphasize detail with each light, gave me a new insight into how I should approach my work.” And, since then, Kevin has sent in subsequent work which he feels was vastly improved by the skills and knowledge he acquired at the STC workshop.

On his set, Jarmo emphasized creating a fluid atmosphere that allowed his model (Playmate, Olivia Paige) to move, to relax, to be spontaneous…all while getting great images. He also demonstrated how to use a single prop, in this case a chair that he brought all the way from Miami, as a focal point that the model could work off of in a variety of ways. Jarmo’s approach to lighting was simpler than Arny but still very effective.

David’s session might have been the most practical for a number of the participants as he utilized sometimes a single light, sometimes two or three. STC recognizes that working photographers have limited budgets, limited resources. David’s approach takes that into account as he demonstrated how to get high-gloss, professional results with a minimum amount of equipment.

There was also a Model Mayhem set which featured STC search winner Heidi Fahrenbah. Participants had the opportunity to shoot Heidi in their downtime while waiting to take their turn on the main sets.

And Arny also did a session on portrait lighting using model Mary Alejo to demonstrate three different lighting styles and how to prompt different poses and facial expressions.

The instructional day went long which only left a little time for a quick dinner and change of clothes before the red carpet event at Club Nikki, The Tropicana’s exclusive disco/nightclub. This provided the perfect opportunity for everyone to mix in a more social setting and there were ample opportunities to take lots of photos of STC’s beautiful Playmates, models and ambassadors. And there was soon an overflow from the fight crowd as the Mayweather/Ortiz championship match ended after only four rounds right across the street at the MGM Grand.

On Sunday, the groups continued to circulate to the various sets and stations so that everyone had a hands-on opportunity to shoot on the various sets and get personal tips from Arny, Jarmo and David. At the same time, Gary and Jeff reviewed portfolios on a one-on-one basis. For some, it was a chance to show their work and get some reaction and suggestions from two highly experienced pros. For others, it was simply a chance to get to meet two people who have been at the heart of creating Playboy photography for the past several decades.

All of the STC crew came away impressed by the passion of the participants and their dedication to the craft of photography. The next STC workshop is already being planned. It will be more ambitious, include a wider variety of information, more hands-on opportunities than any of the past STC events.

Shoot The Centerfold  would like to thank it’s sponsors:

Leica Camera

Hensel

McKenna Pro

Samy’s Camera

Carousel Studio

Sunbounce

Lightware

Chimera

Several of the sponsors were in attendance, ready to answer questions, demonstrate equipment and raffle off product giveaway’s … and, of course, take orders.

Gary Cole

Director Of Photography – Playboy Magazine.

Photo on top by: Seth Grenald, bottom right photo by Dr. Dan.