Elaine Palladino | Portrait and Wedding Photographer | Miami and the World.

It should be noted that I’m a teacher. Yes, I’m a photographer and an ever-evolving one at that, but denying that I’m a teacher is like denying that I’m a Cuban or prone to emotional decisions. It’s just who I am. As a teacher, I have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge that has spilled over into my photography career. Put simply, I love to learn. And I love to learn from the best. Though I’m usually the one to seek new experiences out, I’m always wary of how I’m going to be taught. Not everyone can teach. Some people are just not capable of helping others discover their own knowledge. They don’t show, they tell and their students struggle accordingly.

So it’s with some authority that I say Jonathan Canlas is a teacher. Sure, he’s a photographer—an amazingly talented, you-would-be-lucky-to-have-an-ounce-of-his-vision photographer—but he’s a teacher in every sense of the word.

Film has always been the final frontier for me. It’s ironic, given that people normally learn how to shoot film first then abandon that to go to digital. To me, film was a mythical being, a far off land that this self-taught photographer would never reach. I wasn’t a photographer, at least not in my eyes, until I learned how to shoot film. When I read that the Film Is Not Dead workshop would be heading to Miami, my hometown, I jumped at the opportunity not because it was a film workshop, but it was Jonathan’s workshop. If I was going to learn film, I was going to learn it from the best.

What I discovered in three days in that beautiful mansion by the water went beyond anything that I could have ever imagined. Yes, I learned all the technical aspects of film and more efficient ways to run my business. Yes, we shot some of the best families and couples I’ve had the pleasure of photographing all the while learning from Jon, Joe, Catherine and our fellow attendees. All of this is important, yet it was what I was expecting out of this workshop. What I didn’t expect were all the non-tangible things that I would learn. I didn’t expect the friendships that I made or the FINDers community I’m so fortunate to be a part of now—an open, supportive community that only a person like Jon could create. Least of all, I didn’t expect Jonathan the teacher.

It’s rare in a business that is so incredibly competitive, to find someone as open with his knowledge as Jon. His humor, his confidence and his innate ability to show, not tell make him a true teacher. There is no denying his incredible talent as a photographer, but I believe that his true calling is helping other photographers find their voice and giving them the tools they will need to become better. It is just who he is. I was not afraid to ask Jon questions I’m sure he has heard a hundred times or fearful when he gave me his opinion on my photography. With the help of Jon I’m no longer afraid of film. He taught me to be brave and that has made all the difference.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t send a virtual hug to all of the wonderful photographers that I met during this workshop:  Jon, Joe, Catherine, Kristen, Stacey, Ozzy, Ken, Dustin, Bunn, Kristin, Jaq, Randy, Matthew, Ingrid, Shipra & Brian.

I’m especially grateful to the models who were so incredibly patient even with 15 cameras in their face: Ozzy, Linda & Faith, Jessica & Dave, Jimmy and Shelly, Todd & Kristy & their amazing kids, Finley & Jeanette, Orialys & Cristal, Deise, and Gilcelia & Edilson.

These pictures are not in any particular order. Memories aren’t linear, at least not in my mind. My memories are not chronological. This is FIND Miami, through my eyes.