By now you have definitely heard the buzz about “Fusion,” the next hip thing to try with wedding photography.  Always on the cutting edge, one of my favorite friends, Robert Evans, teamed up with the talented Curt Apanovich to create Engaging Films. Engaging Films not only offers a fusion of the highest quality photography and high definition video for their clients, but now, they are sharing their knowledge of how to create this fusion with other photographers by going on a countrywide tour. This means that you can learn how to incorporate fusion into your photography business first hand from the experts without even having to leave town!

I had the pleasure of attending the kick-off class which was offered at Robert’s studio in Studio City, and there was a LOT to be learned. Curt first covered how to obtain the right kind of coverage by shooting for the story. “Videographers need to shoot with a purpose, not just get hours of footage,” he says. Curt introduced us to equipment like the glidecam,  new video lights, and the IKam which make shooting video on SLRs easier, and told us a few tips on how to record better sound with microphone adaptors for the 5D MarkII. Robert gave useful advice about how to get all the time you need with your couples on their wedding day, and let us watch an actual interview of himself talking with potential clients so we could hear exactly how he lays out the schedule for them. He explains that to be truly creative, you need time to play, especially if you are going to be incorporating fusion.

This workshop is all about being at the forefront of what is going on. Robert told us, “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep on getting what you get,” and he strongly encouraged everyone to get out there and experiment with fusion – perhaps at an engagement session – to get their couples interested.  You need to create something to show and let your clients actually see what it is you plan to offer them.  And to help you do just this, Curt launched into detailed instructions on how a photographer can use Final Cut Pro to put together a compelling media piece combining  stills and motion picture to create a new market for themselves.  Curt is incredibly knowledgeable in the use of Final Cut Pro and offered all kinds of tips and short cuts to make the editing process easier.

I thought that Robert and Curt played off each other so well during the workshop. Each one had something different to bring to the table, and they divided the time between themselves seamlessly. It’s clear they make a great team, which is another point they strongly bring home – fusion is made up of teamwork. It’s extremely difficult to jump back and forth between shooting stills and doing videography, especially at a wedding. It’s important to find a good team and have a dedicated person for each medium. It was interesting, to, to hear that sometimes Curt takes the lead on a shoot and sometimes it’s Robert, but they emphasized the fact that it’s important that one person play the “director” on the day, so that things can go that much more smoothly without confusion on the couple’s part. Having been a film studies major in college, I really loved how they emphasized the idea of “story” and creating fusion with a very cinematic approach. Curt gave us a demonstration of how it’s possible to show characters and a sense of story (beginning-middle-end) with a short film he did of the Bellagio Fountains that was absolutely inspired.

Because Engaging Films is teaming up with Couture Books, one of the coolest things we got to see was a new product Couture is creating specifically for them. (Don’t worry, it will be available to everyone soon!)  It’s an album with a cover that incorporates an iTouch! The iTouch can be switched on without having to remove it from the cover, and your fusion slideshow can be seen right there. I took a few snaps of the album to share with you.  (and yes, that IS Abigail on the screen…I was the only one in class who had an iTouch, so they used mine to demo the product.)  Here you can see a shot of the front, the inside cover with the slide down to reveal the iTouch inside, and a shot of Robert flipping through the actual album.  Its such a cool combo!

If you are at all interested in seeing what fusion might do for your studio, I strongly suggest you check out photofusiontour.com to see when they will be in your city!