MR MAXWELL WILL SEE YOU NOW

by Allie Kingsley

Some people believe that “those who can’t do, teach”—well, clearly they don’t know about Robert Maxwell. Maxwell is one of the most renowned portrait photographers of our time and he is lending his genius to a group of fortunate folk in an intense four-day workshop at the Palm Springs Photo Festival entitled, “Robert Maxwell: The Contemporary Fine Art Nude.” From April 2nd to 5th, the lensman will share techniques and the unique approach to his specialties, in addition to critiquing the work of his student’s work. The class will be taught with Treats! magazine—that’s us!—in mind as Maxwell instructs how he would go about shooting for our fine art collectible quarterly. It’s an opportunity any aspiring photographer would be crazy to pass up.

It’s not every day that someone of his status dolls out advice in the flesh. The hardened Hollywood side of treats! wondered what would bring someone high on the radar back down to the classroom.

He humbly dove right in: “It’s about seeing the excitement of the students. They look at me and think ‘Oh my God, I just met that guy and he’s working’—and I know what that’s like. They have that stoke I used to have when I first started.”

He continues: “When you’ve been working as long as I have things can get a little…. they make photography exciting again. Their enthusiasm, the new life, new blood—it re-kindles my passion.”

Although the workshop focuses on nudes, Robert is mostly known for his work with celebrities. Which is more fulfilling and challenging to him? He explained that “every situation is different. A typical nude shoot is so easy— there are no publicists, strong personalities or stylists, whereas there are on a celebrity shoot. But in the end, it’s rewarding that with those added challenges still you pulled it out and worked a little harder that day.”

His advice to up-and-comers in regards to shooting for pleasure is simple: “Don’t feel bad if you don’t shoot. Shoot when you feel like it, don’t shoot when you don’t. I used to take my personal work more seriously than my professional work; that is a stigma attached to working in photography. But you can be good at both.” Amen. See you in the desert, Robert.

Click Here to sign up for Robert’s workshop.