I do love Instagram. It’s procrastination at it’s best! I mostly snap food and the odd picture of our beautiful Pip. It has however now also become my app of choice for taking and editing photos. It’s so easy and intuitive to use to get great results.
There are a few Instagrammers that I am rather obsessed with and check out most days.
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Matt runs Instagram workshops. Just take a look at his feed or stories for more information. I’ve been on one of these and it was great fun and very informative. |
Sally doesn’t run any workshops as far as I know but posts great photography tips from time to time on her blog. |
Kimberly runs lots of live events on her Instagram and courses via her blog |
So I am always on the lookout for courses or workshops from these folks that share secrets and top tips. A few weeks ago I saw a post on the lovely Giulia’s feed on a collaboration she was running with Jo Yee. Two more favourite photographers let alone great instagrammers
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A great location and an awesome cause
The workshop took place at Tab x Tab in Westbourne Grove and 100% of the proceeds were being donated to Bread and Roses.
The latter is a social enterprise which trains refugee women in floristry and in the process provides them with the space to learn English, develop skills and build their confidence. Since the Refugee Integration and Employment Service was disbanded in 2011, there is no longer an obvious place for refugees to go for help and support getting a job or just for everyday questions. The team at Bread and Roses strives to empower women and support them into jobs where they feel valued. There are some cool stories over on their Instagram feed that are well worth a look.
Tab x Tab is an independent coffee shop run by Mathew Tabatabai and his wonderful team. I liked Mathew instantly. Similarly to me he started his coffee shop after a career doing something completely different – mostly working with luxury goods companies like Matches and Browns. Then he went to live in Hong Kong doing more cool stuff for retailers there until a Global Retail Director role for Alexander McQueen came calling back in London. Also like me he wanted a bit of a life change when children came on the scene hence the coffee shop. He’s going strong with a busy neighbourhood cafe that sells independent brands of chocolate, tea and coffee and you can see where all that style and fashion within the cafe comes from. The whole space is simply beautiful and airy. The crockery is beautiful and the coffee machine is the sexiest I have ever seen. It is well worth a visit if you haven’t been.
The workshop started with some tips from Giulia on light, composition, styling and design whilst talking through images from her favourite feeds. She shared how she uses props and quickly styles in the moment. Jo talked about lifting images using cloths, creating images using an S-shape as a guide and how to create connections in images using the plates or other table components.
I took away the following top tips
Tip #1 – Shoot in portrait to make the most use of the camera lens
Tip #2 – Try to have some items touching and some not touching each other to create a connection in the image.
Tip #3 – Use other photo editing apps before uploading a shot to Instagram. I found two apps that I’d never heard of before. Touch Retouch removes unsightly or unwanted objects and A Color Story has some wonderful filters and effects tools.
We then had a chance to split into groups and see the ladies in action shooting the delicious food from Mathew’s kitchen. First off a Matcha Latte and Matcha, Chia, Coconut and Strawberry Breakfast Bowl, Amaranth Porridge with Maple Syrup, Chocolate and Cherry Brownies, Banana Bread, Poached Eggs on Toast with Kale and Feta and of course some beautiful coffee.
We all got to have a go guided by Jo and Giulia and it looked a bit like this
The end result
I really enjoyed the evening. It was just nice to be around like minded folk, get a bit of inspiration to do things a bit differently and just have a go. Here’s the final shot I was happy with on my own Instagram feed. I wasn’t quite brave enough to go for the full flatlay but I will keep trying now that I have some words of wisdom.
What do you think?
Do pop over and give it a like. Would love some feedback too if you have a moment to leave a comment. And if like me, you want a bit of inspiration, you can follow the hashtag #cfgworkshops as a starter for ten.