Thursday, 22 April 2010
I hosted a couple of workshops last weekend. There was a half day one on Saturday which had been rescheduled from a rain date in March, and a full day one on Sunday.
The mini workshop was originally planned for a Sunday morning, but the only time everyone could do was last Saturday afternoon, and in retrospect, later in the day worked out much better, especially for the lighting. Cairo kept the attendees company while we waited for everyone to arrive and I kept the cooke plate from feeling too lonely by returning every couple of seconds for another one.
After the mini presentation at my house, we headed out to Dockyard for the practical part of the day. The group was great - keen to learn and full of enthusiasm for the art of photography. I had decided to go for a glam engagement-session style shoot and the models really played their parts beautifully. Not to mention, the light was just incredible and so perfect for teaching the attendees about how to find the best conditions.
The next day was the full day workshop. Five minutes before the first attendees arrived, my electricity went out. Ben, who is not only my husband, but also my technical guru, was pulling out of the driveway with the kids and happily waved good bye, leaving me in a state of panic. There were still no signs of power at 9am when we were to officially supposed to begin, and I realised I couldn't use Cairo's cuteness as a distraction any longer. So I began my presentation using the hand out which was very prose oriented rather than the simple bullet points which triggered my thought process. Nonetheless, all the info is in my head and I surprised myself, even if I did babble off on tangents more than I had planned. When the lights came back on shortly before 10am, I have to say I was unutterably grateful that I could complete the theory side of the day with my well prepared power point presentation, not to mention those desperate for coffee were grateful the kettle would finally boil. We finished up the theory presentation with lots of Q & A before heading to my room to do the practice indoor session where I threw everyone in the deep end and insisted they use their full manual settings.
After lunch, we headed to a beautiful property full of cedars, banyans and romantic backdrops where the lighting conditions in the middle of the day were challenging to say the least. It was a great location to test the attendees of their knowledge so far and pushed their manual shooting boundaries.
I couldn't believe all the props, accessories and outfits we lugged with us, but it really made the difference to make the shoots special for everyone involved.
Keep checking for future posts on the two workshops since I will be sharing in stages. Thanks to all who signed up - both days had great groups of photography enthusiasts and hope all learned a tonne!
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