Kris Anderson has captivated and inspired audiences around the world with his keynotes, lectures and workshops. With a conference speaking resume that includes destinations like the USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, Kris has established himself as a sought-after presenter renowned for his expertise and dynamic speaking style. His sessions are a testament to his passion for sharing knowledge of photography and storytelling. Kris has a way of immediately engaging with attendees; his friendly, energetic style builds immediate rapport with an audience, making them feel comfortable and eager to participate and learn.

Kris prides himself on delivering content-rich lectures and keynotes while keeping participants thoroughly engaged. His presentations are informative and highly practical, providing attendees with valuable tools and insights they can readily apply to their photographic work (and sometimes their everyday lives!). Each session is carefully designed to be both unusual and memorable, ensuring that participants leave with not only newfound knowledge but also a sense of inspiration and excitement.

With a library of content to draw from, Kris has a session that fits your needs. Or he can build one for you! If you’d like Kris as part of your conference lineup for a keynote, lecture, or workshop, get in touch!

Session	Format	Subject
Nailing the Narrative – The Art and Science of Engaging a Viewer	Keynote 90 minutes	Storytelling, Preparation, Image Theory. Composite photography. Inspirational, motivational.
Idea Ignition! Generating ideas and planning great project images.	Workshop, 8-30 participants 90 minutes	Storytelling, brainstorming, ideation, communication. Practical, motivational.
The Portraiture Partnership – building rapport in portrait sessions	Workshop and practical demo, 8-20 participants 90-120 minutes	Fun, informative, challenging, interactive
Headshot Hustle	Practical demo 90 minutes	Practical, informative
Personal Projects – Supercharge “Future-You” with the Power of Personal Projects	Keynote 30-60 minutes	Engaging, inspiring, motivational, informative
Your Creative Assistant – Introduction to Generative AI	Workshop 90 minutes	Informative, practical, interactive, engaging
Judging 101 – Introduction to photographic competition judging	All-day workshop
Communication, Creativity and Innovation – Judging with an Open Mind	Keynote 90 minutes	Practical,
Photographic Critique for Peers – Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback	Workshop 90-120 minutes
Kinetic Captures: Dance photography fast and slow	Keynote 60 minutes
Frozen Frames to Fluid Forms: A practical showcase of classic and abstract dance photography techniques	Keynote – Practical Demonstration 90 minutes	Practical, engaging, dance photography, lighting, communication, problem solving

Keynotes/lectures

Idea Ignition! Generating ideas and planning great project images. 

Keynote/Lecture plus workshop, 90 minutes
Participants: 8-30 participants; will form into pairs, and into larger groups for some exercises.

Great storytelling portraits and illustrative images don’t just appear in front of the camera by magic. An illustrative image’s journey from start to finish passes through many stages, all using different skills. It can be overwhelming! In this session, illustrative photographer Kris Anderson takes you through his creative process, drilling down on each stage and revealing techniques you can apply to your own work, using his work as examples – with a particular focus on collecting and generating ideas. During the session, each participant will use the techniques in real-time, taking ideas and iterating through concepts, first as individuals then in small groups. Topics include ideation techniques, using constraints as a positive input, pre-visualisation techniques, working with a team, and logistics for planning location, casting, wardrobe and other aspects of a shoot.

Kris has empowered participants all over the world with this workshop, including SWPP in London, and during the 2023 National Photographic Portrait Prize programme at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia.

The Portraiture Partnership – building rapport in portrait sessions

Workshop, 90-120 minutes
Participants: 8-20 participants

The Portraiture Partnership is one of the most unusual photography workshops you’ve ever experienced; participants will come away with an entirely different attitude and mindset for engaging with portrait clients. 

As photographers, it can be daunting to meet a subject for the first time, then quickly build rapport and give direction while shooting. In this 90 minute active masterclass, Kris Anderson (one of Brisbane’s best headshot photographers) will give you practical techniques for quickly connecting with your subject and creating a confident and supportive environment, one where you and the subject work in concert to achieve the best outcome. Kris draws from his experience both as a portrait photographer and as an improvisor, using techniques improvising actors all over the world use and adapting them to a portraiture collaboration.

Headshot Hustle

Lecture + Demonstration, 90 minutes

If you’ve ever wanted to be a fly on the wall for a headshot session, this is your chance! In this 90 minute breakout, Kris walks the class through his full headshot client workflow – including pre-shoot advice, equipment choices for studio and on-site work, preferred headshot lighting setup, proofing tools for clients, and a quick final retouch. And of course – a headshot shoot – with volunteers from the audience! Kris will show how he gives direction and direction to a client to hit the target.

Supercharge “Future-You” with the Power of Personal Projects

Lecture/Keynote, 30-60 minutes

As working photographers, it’s very easy for us to fall into to the This Is What I Do Every Day zone – we know our market, we know how to get results, and we do it consistently, day-in day-out. Remember when you first picked up a camera? Remember that excitement about trying something new, solving problems, and celebrating those wins? Do you miss that? In this session, Kris will help you reconnect with that excitement, and open your eyes to some exciting projects you can use to shake out the cobwebs and get creative.

This session is highly customisable; the content can be adjusted from 30 to 60 minutes; Kris delivered a 10 minute lightning version for the Professional Photographers Business Network.

Your Creative Assistant – Introduction to Generative AI

Lecture/keynote + workshop, 90 minutes

Everyone seems to have jumped on the AI bandwagon, generating amazing (and sometimes not-so-amazing) images from scratch. Except you. Do you feel like the AI image creation bus has passed you by? If you are curious, but you don’t quite know where to start, this is the class for you. Kris will walk through some tools you can access right now and how to get started – and how you can use AI for ideation and as components of your art.

Judging 101 – Introduction to photographic competition judging

Workshop, full day

There are a great many photography competitions running today, with a huge variety in how they are planned and executed. This session gives participants a solid grounding in the different competition formats and differences, including digital/print, solo/team judging, feedback/no-feedback, straight/debate, etc. We will spend time evaluating images, exploring different aspects of image evaluation and learning about our own strengths and weaknesses with respect to technical and non-technical image analysis. We’ll talk about scoring systems and how judges can calibrate their scoring. And very importantly, we’ll spend time critiquing images using language suitable for feedback to the entrant, exploring how best to be informative and educational, being kind while holding entrants to a high standard. By the end of the workshop, participants will have the tools they need to understand the range of competitions and what the judges’ role is for each, and be ready to step in and contribute!

This workshop does not focus on any one judging system, but it could be customised for that if needed.

Communication, Creativity and Innovation – Judging with an Open Mind

Lecture/Keynote, 90 minutes

When judging for a photography competition, it’s often easy to evaluate an image based purely on technical merit. When you observe the ‘correct’ application of exposure, focus, shutter speed, etc, you can be objectively correct. Just like it can be a challenge for a photographer to move past their mastery of technical execution of a photograph, it can be a challenge for a photographic judge to open themselves up to interpretive judging.

In this 90 minute lecture, Kris takes participants through the DNA of a balanced photography judge, showing how a balance of technical and subjective/emotional/narrative judging can be the strongest recipe for success. We’ll discuss how photographs sit on the continuum of images, from below professional standard through award standard, and how as a judge unlocking the ability to observe and discuss intangibles in images can help to support you when you are reviewing and interpreting more challenging work. 

Photographic Critique for Peers – Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback

Workshop, 90-120 minutes, 8-30 participants

One of the best tools for making your images (and your photography) stronger is to receive and to give feedback to peers. It’s not always easy! In this workshop, Kris Anderson will help you both as a critique-giver and a critique-receiver. We’ll talk about how to get the best from someone when you ask for their critique, and how to process their feedback to make your images stronger. We’ll touch on photographic critique areas, and focus on communication styles and methods to make sure your feedback is constructive, actionable, and appreciated. We will have many group exercises; participants need to come with an open mind, and bring 8-10 images (preferably prints; images on an iPad or laptop are also suitable) for critique. 

Kinetic Captures: Dance photography fast and slow

Keynote, 60-90 minutes

Dance photography is an exciting and fulfilling niche, and like every area of photography has its own special considerations. Kris will walk you through his approach to a studio dance photography session, how he approaches technical aspects like lighting and camera technique, communication with the client, and the logistics of moving through a studio session. We’ll also explore how using long exposures and intentional camera movement can lead to spectacular abstract images.

Frozen Frames to Fluid Forms: A practical showcase of classic and abstract dance photography techniques

Keynote + live demonstration, 90 minutes

For an audience hungry for a practical demonstration, this session is exciting and very different from most keynotes. Kris starts with a basic explanation of his dance photography, then moves quickly into the process for a classic dance photograph. He explains the lighting setup and his choices of background, lens, and so on, then runs a short session directing a dancer through poses. Once the classic dance photography is complete, we move to a different lighting setup for some long-exposure dance photography, using continuous lights, working with the dancer to create beautiful ethereal dance portraiture. And along the way, there are sure to be problems to solve – composition, lighting, movement problems – and the audience gets to watch that process of solving problems and refining the shot.

This session has non-trivial requirements with respect to equipment, subject, bump-in and bump-out time.