Can I just start by saying, “Wow?!!”
Over the years, I’ve been to a number of professional photography workshops and conferences all over the United States, and even one in a different country, but this one in my own backyard has been the best investment by far.
Two Mann Studios Metanoia Dallas Photography Workshop Review
I first discovered Erika and Lanny, otherwise known as Two Mann Studios, on Fearless Photographers. It’s a website dedicated to matching fearless wedding couples with equally fearless, professional photographers from around the globe. More importantly to someone like me (a wedding photographer who’s not engaged), it lets me peek into the minds of the world’s top fearless wedding photographers every other month.
Each year, I attend the WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) Conference in Vegas (and at least one other in-person workshop). I usually start preparing for this educational experience months in advance looking at all my class options to make sure I make the best choices. When I discovered Erika and Lanny on the 2015 WPPI lineup, I knew I wanted had to sit in their platform presentation. No doubt.
I don’t recall everything about their 2015 presentation, but I especially remember that it was one of the best I’ve ever been in at WPPI. It was filled with excitement, advice, inspiration, stories of their failures, stories of their successes, how they shoot through the moment until they get what they want, and many, many beautiful wedding images. This presentation turned me onto their work even more. They were real, personable, approachable, honest, and best of all, they were outdoorsy. ( Actually, that word is probably offensive to them. Lanny and Erika and more than “outdoorsy.” They are probably as equally fearless about their outdoor lifestyle and activities as they are about their wedding photography. If they weren’t photographers, they’d probably have an official endorsement/sponsorship from {insert any leading outdoor brand here}.
There’s so many more predictable things on a mountain, surrounded by crevasses than shooting a wedding.
Erika Mann
Sidenote: Be sure to follow them on Instagram at @mannsaroundtheworld. I’m convinced they are raising two of the most well-rounded, culturally-diverse, adventure-seeking kids on the planet.
At that moment, I decided if I ever got the chance, I’d attend one of their workshops.
So late last year, in a private Facebook group, they posted that they would be announcing some new workshop dates for 2019. Somehow, though there’s 2,700 people in that group… and they only take 12 students per workshop… and these workshops are usually booked within a matter of minutes… and, respectively, Erika and Lanny are rated as the #3 and #6 top Fearless photographers in the world… and even though it would be the most I ever invested in a workshop… I finally got that chance.
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Also, I just want to take a second here to mention that nearly every photographer’s website you visit today includes some sort of blurb about the awards they have won—many of which don’t carry that much weight, honestly. However, the accolades that these two have collected are the real deal. Erika and Lanny were the Top Two Fearless Wedding Photographers in the world in 2014, 2015 and 2016, Erika claimed the Fearless Photographer of the Year in 2015 all by herself, they’ve repetitively been the “best of the best” on Junebug Weddings and International Photographer of the Year by ISPWP. They have more than a few very real, very legitimate awards under their belt.
Chew on everything. Pick and choose what you swallow.
Lanny Mann
So… the details. These are the things about this workshop that stood out as very different from any other workshop I’ve attended.
- Lanny and Erika made themselves available months (nearly a year) prior to the workshop in a private Facebook group
- As soon as everyone arrived at the workshop, we were all greeted with a hello and a hug and they knew a lot of our names before we even introduced ourselves to each other
- We were each gifted a notepad with personal inscription written by one of them
- Mine is so special, I didn’t use it to take notes though that’s what it was intended for 🙂
- We received three full days of education… 10-12+ hours per day
- They let us know nothing was off limits
- They walked us through each step of their wedding flow process—from a mock consultation all the way through delivery of the wedding images
- We got to accompany them on an actual couple’s shoot to observe
- We were shown unculled wedding photo galleries—not just a compilation of their hero shots
- They brought the best chef (Sue) in to take care of us; we never had to leave to eat—and the food was beyond amazing!
- Several times, we were put on a team to work things out as a group, but we were also given a few challenges to solve on our own
- They challenged us to a competition (which I totally misgauged!), which in the end, wasn’t a competition at all
- Lanny and Erika promptly added us into a private Facebook group for all the alumni once it was over where we received a very warm welcome from past students
- I’m only in one other private Facebook group where the educator is as active as these two! Kudos!
And maybe even the best part about the entire workshop is that I got to meet some of the neatest wedding photographers in the industry. I got to sit beside 11 fellow wedding photographers who value education as much as I do and learn as they did. I got to hear their questions, testify to their difficult issues and learn from their experiences. I got to learn about their workflows and hear solutions to problems they have already solved. I got to make friends and share in this incredible experience.
Lastly, I would like to add that the biggest difference I noticed between this workshop and basically every other workshop I’ve ever attended was that this was not a Hey, Come Watch Me & Lanny Shoot workshop. The only time we watched them shoot was with their real couple (not models) and it was only to observe how they scouted a location, how they worked as a team, how they interacted with their couple, how they invoked authentic emotion, how they made “an experience” for their couple, how they set expectations, and how they combated real challenges during a session—in this case—loud, distracting music from the outdoor fitness boot camp. And since Erika and Lanny are mostly photojournalistic wedding photographers, and as best I know, usually only submit images to Fearless Photographers, I will probably never see one of these images (which I funded, in part) submitted to an image contest.
I genuinely felt that Erika and Lanny were purely there to teach us. Twelve students were their only priority for the solid three days—except for the brief moment during dinner when the kids called to advise that Timmy had chipped a tooth at school.
My only regret may be not getting to meet Madelyn and Timmy, the Manns’ children, who seem mature beyond their years (on Instagram at least).
Don’t shoot how it looks, shoot how it feels.
David Allan Harvey
As wedding photographers, we are taught to deliver an unforgettable experience on top of great wedding images. It is blatantly apparent that Erika and Lanny have adapted this same mindset for their photography workshops.
The two were an open book and answered each and every question—even when the answer was off the record. They made me think about things I had never contemplated. They made me think in way I never had. They made me laugh AND they made me cry. They put lots of tools into my toolbox over the course of these three days, including the advice to always take risks and “buy more tickets.” They gave me what I need to begin to transform my skills, my seeing, and my thinking.
I can’t wait to begin to implement some of these changes into my own wedding workflow.
Special shoutout to Erica Santiago of Erica Kay Photography of Columbus, Ohio for inviting me on a shoot she had set up the day prior to the workshop beginning. I got to partake in a kind of shoot that I would not normally have. I can’t wait to share these images with you. But, I’m sitting on the images until Erica releases them to her client. Sorry, guys!
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I am San Antonio’s most unique wedding photographer. I specialize in a 10-day image delivery, same-day prints, same-day slideshows, Italian handcrafted wedding albums and I have a mobile meeting space.
I am a full-time, internationally-awarded and WPPI-C certified professional wedding and senior photographer based in South Texas near San Antonio. I offer a premier and personal service coupled with an unforgettable photography experience. I cater to clients who appreciate quality photography and help them to create family heirlooms that will last for generations.
I started Ata-Girl Photography Co., LLC in 2010. I firmly believe that the unique set of circumstances I have faced in life has prepared me to take a personal and genuine interest in my photography clients. I enjoy documenting the important milestones and captivating moments in people’s lives. I love being a part of people’s journeys and consider myself privileged to document their legacies.
When I’m not photographing a wedding, family or high school senior, I love to spend my spare time hiking, camping, cycling, reading, listening to Elvis and Prince. The most important things in life are for me to see my two daughters happy and to create a family history my grandparents and grandson would be proud of!
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