Michelle Harris

Michelle is a nice person, but has seemed pretty distracted on both this and subsequent times I've run into her as an educator. Her setups are beautiful and always feature Black models, which is a true rarity for styled shoots/workshops, as I mentioned in my review. Just be aware that she's not as generous when it comes to sharing the "good" shots as most other educators I've taken classes/styled shoots/workshops/curated events from.

Michelle is a very knowledgeable photographer, but the event was not as advertised.

It was on a heavily discounted sale, which in multiple years of following her, I had bever seen before and wantedto jump on the chance to work with her. Finding styled shoots featuring diverse models (i.e., not white/white-passing), is incredibly hard and her shots from her workshops are always lovely. But her assistant did not get back to me before the $500 (instead of $899) sale ended. It was a 72hr window so I did not think expecting a reply before that closed was unreasonable. I booked anyway thinking anywhere in Atlanta is reachable via the MARTA system.

As opposed to being in "the city," it was in a fairly rural area almost 2hrs away. That's fine. Perhaps I was overeager in booking the ticket before knowing the general location. But her assistant seemed pretty unbothered at potentially losing her client $500. (She also missed sending at least one other key email to all the attendees before the event so...:/)

At the workshop, we covered some of the things in her outline, but others, like doing headshots, were completely skipped despite being the first thing on the agenda. Other details were similarly disorganised like a wedding dress that didn't fit the model or most of her flatlay kit being stuck with someone who's flight was cancelled. Or the "catered" lunch being Pizza Hut. At an event where most of the tickets presumably sold at the $899 price point.

The worst though was towards the end when she took almost 20 minutes and multiple shots of her own to execute an attendee's idea her way, allowed for a few snaps by two of the attendees she had a prior relationship with, but moved on before the rest of the attendees even had a chance to shoot around her for the shot. (Mirrored bathroom and everyone not actively setting up the shot was asked to leave the room to make it easier in post.) The photos were lovely as are all of the ones she posts from her workshops, but that is Not the vibe from an educational workshop or styled shoot. This was not my first rodeo, but for the price vs value, if it had been, it likely would have been my last.

The experience was okay, but not awesome. I've paid less for better experiences and had attended some styled shoots felt more guided than this one did as a workshop. I would have been satisfied-ish if the price point had been in the ~$150-$250 range, but even at $500, it did not deliver an experience I'd call worth 100% of the money + additional cost to get there.

She was also pivoting from Master the City to Master the Wedding at this event, which is a less appealing concept to me and would have been less of an incentive to go.

Be there for the attendees, not for yourself. Everyone needs to take a couple of shots and rotate. Even the host. If you can't pivot like that, maybe teaching workshops isn't your true calling and that's okay!! She clearly has a lot of experience and knowledge and demonstrates well how to get good shots. Pivoting to fully lectures or demos may better match Michelle's interest level, as I know from other events she's been at that I've attended that she runs those as well.