CliQ 2011 features Pro Speaker series

Jasmine Star is an international wedding photographer based in Orange County, Calif. Though she’s garnished awards for her work and was voted a Top 10 Wedding Photographer by American Photo magazine, her crowning accomplishment was making meatloaf for the first time last year. However, she still needs to work on making the meatloaf edible.

Beginning just four years ago, Star developed a voice and online brand by leveraging social media and using techniques to empower clients to become the voice of her brand. She’ll discuss the importance of branding, why it’s vital to business development, and how to affordably accomplish doing so.

Scott Bourne is a digital media pioneer and has been involved in photography for more than three and a half decades. His award-winning photography has appeared in more than 200 books, magazines, newspapers, television shows, fine-art galleries, and websites. He’s the author of five photography books, including his most recent, “Going Pro,” cowritten by Skip Cohen, which is expected to be released in the spring of 2011. He is the cofounder of both the Professional Wedding & Studio Photographers International and GoingPro, with Skip Cohen.

With a passion for capturing the beauty of everyday life in pictures and an unbridled enthusiasm for sharing her musings with the masses, Tracey Clark keeps herself in constant creative motion. She’s found a way to blend her love for photography and writing with the precarious art of raising both a spirited grade-schooler and a tireless tween, creating what she considers the perfect alchemy.

Beyond a career in photography, Clark has published two motherhood journals (“Waiting for Baby” and “Baby of Mine,” Chronicle Books) and is giddy about her newest book (written with the help of the other Shutter Sisters), “Expressive Photography: A Shutter Sisters’ Guide to Shooting from the Heart.” She also writes for a variety of publications and websites and muses on daily life on her blog.

Clark is also the founder of Shutter Sisters, a collaborative photo blog and thriving community of female photo enthusiasts. In her spare time, she enjoys sharing her passion, know-how, and photo philosophies at conferences, events, and gatherings nationwide.

Stacy L. Pearsall got her start as a U.S. Air Force photographer more than 10 years ago at the age of 17. During her time in the service, she traveled to more than 41 countries and attended S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is one of only two women to win the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Military Photographer of the Year competition, and the only woman to have won it twice. During three tours in Iraq, she earned the Bronze Star Medal and Commendation with Valor for heroic actions under fire. Her work has been published in various media, including Time magazine, The New York Times, CNN, BBC, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Soldier of Fortune magazine, Sports Illustrated, Bahrain Times, Oscar-nominated PBS documentary “Operation Homecoming,” and the GQ magazine book, “This is Our War.” Currently, she is the owner/director of the Charleston Center for Photography, a 5,600-square-foot facility offering photography classes and workshops, digital and wet-process printing, wall studio rentals, youth art programs, photo galleries, photography services, and more.

Vincent Laforet, a three-time winner at the prestigious 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, is a director and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer known for his forward-thinking approach to image-making and storytelling. In addition to having been commissioned by just about every important international publication, including Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, and Life, Laforet is considered a pioneer – both for his innovative tilt-shift and aerial photography and in the field of HD-capable DSLR cameras. In fact, his short film “Reverie,” the first 1080p video shot with a still camera, was seen more than 2 million times in the first week of its release in 2009.

Clay Blackmore is one of the most passionate professional photographers in the country today and a true innovator in the world of wedding photography and portraiture. Working out of Washington, D.C., his style blends the beauty and timelessness of classical portraiture with the spontaneity and appeal of photojournalism. Blackmore’s photographic, business, and educational credentials were meticulously developed during his 25-year association with the legendary Monte Zucker as assistant, business partner, and co-educator.

The two-hour sessions will cost $49 each or are available in a three-pack for $129.