This summer, I found two workshops that I felt my heart tugging towards. Should I? That’s a lot of money! But, I hadn’t really spent any money on education outside of the Ed Pierce PhotoVision DVDs (which pretty much rock if you ask me). I bit the bullet. The first was Melissa Jill’s 2-Day Workshop a few weeks ago in Phoenix, Arizona. This one, OneLight, hosted by Zach Arias in Atlanta, Georgia. I picked the very last one for a reason…I knew October would be busy so November had to be the best, right? What I didn’t realize was that I would be moving my studio to a near 1700 square foot location, trying to finish up Fall sessions in this God-awful rain we’ve been having, and trying to find time for me with everything in between.
As with the first workshop, a few days before I repeated to myself, “this is crazy…I shouldn’t be leaving town because I have so much going on.” But, as with the last workshop, I sat there with my jaw dropped during one of my “A-Ha!” moments in the amazing Used Film Studios in Decatur, Georgia. Yah, that moment when you go, that was what all that money, time, travel, and nightmare of driving in Atlanta in the rain was all for.
Zach and his team are open and honest. And, not in a cocky kinda way that makes you feel intimidated and worried that you are in way too far over your head and shouldn’t even think you can achieve what he does. No, raw honesty. If I can take anything away that I can share with my readers, Zach gets nervous, just like us. Zach wants to save a buck, just like us. Zach has to start somewhere….Just. Like. Us.
I’ve always believed that education was important. Even when you think you’re on top of your game, you shouldn’t stop learning. If you’re looking for a hands-on workshop…not one that means you have to sit there in a chair and watch someone else do the work, this is the workshop for you. I have to admit, you really should know how to manually expose your pictures. Not Aperture Priority, not program, not auto. MANUAL! Get out of that mindframe. Make yourself learn. If you can do that you can have so much more control over your images. This workshop drives that home. You have to be able to know and understand those basic things in order to succeed in adding new equipment to your arsenal…lights.
You’ll leave this workshop with a sense of confidence in lighting. Sure, it won’t be 100% perfect when you get home. Taken from Zach – you must make yourself learn to use the equipment you have and you must dedicate yourself to just that. Or, it will never work for you.
Living in St. Louis, especially this time of year with unpredictable lighting, something like this is a must have. I believe I left this workshop with a new head on my shoulders (no, I didn’t steal any from the studio bathroom while there…heh – attendees might get that). I have a sense of confidence and am excited to put them to use. Hope you don’t get bored with my experiments on this blog. Zach just twittered today that they will be announcing new workshop dates for next year within the next week. So, keep checking and invest in your business. You can’t afford not to.
More images from the workshop – with very little editing expect some skin softening on the female.
P.S. – these were all shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and 50mm f/1.4 in case you were wondering!