How to Be a "TOPGUN" Photographer!

Phil Cisneros, Host, (www.philcisneros.com) interviews famed and talented photographer and instructor Hal Schmitt at the Light Photographic Workshop (http://www.leppphoto.com) with his wife Victoria. If you want to increase your photography skills, you'll want to hear about the Photographic Light Workshop, located on the Central Coast of California. Hal started his photography and digital imaging experience two short years ago when he, along with wife Victoria, purchased the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging from Canon Explorer of Light George Lepp. With no formal training, owning no cameras, and heard to remark "Photoshop? What's that?" Hal hit the ground running and has not looked back. At the Institute he trained night and day with industry leading photographers, Photoshop Gurus, and Print masters until his skills were honed and ready. He began to instruct his own courses at the Institute in the fall of 2007 and has since taught over 1000 people and led more than twenty five major courses and photo tours. Although he teaches at all levels, everything is about the basics, "If your fundamentals are strong, you have a firm foundation upon which to rapidly build your skills." Before picking up his first DSLR, Hal spent fourteen years as a decorated, combat veteran flying FA-18 Hornets and Super Hornets in the U.S. Navy. He was fortunate to fly over 2,000 hours and accumulate over 550 carrier arrested landings. As a two-time TOPGUN Instructor, Hal taught advanced strike fighter tactics at the Navy Fighter Weapons School for over five years. He often relates many of his current subjects to things he learned and taught at TOPGUN. Of course, most things now are "a bit slower and a lot less dangerous."