OneLight

I had an amazing opportunity to spend the day with an amazing photographer, Zack Arias in Austin this week.  (I was going to try and say amazing one more time, but decided against it.)  For over 17 hours he shared his knowledge about photography lighting.  One thing I really like about Zack is that he's not a "stuff" kind of guy.  He truly believes that you can take great photos without having to have the latest and greatest equipment (as long as you've got some talent)!  I learned this week that he's been through the Dave Ramsey program to become debt free.  He got MAJORly into debt with is photography business several years ago.  His business and family were falling apart.  He sold all his equipment to pay his bills.  He managed to get his feet back under himself and start working on becoming debt free.  Now he runs a photography business totally debt-free.  That has been a tough job here.  I've wanted to try and keep up with all my friends and the equipment they could buy (or charge) and I started to feel bad because I couldn't "keep up" with them.  I eventually just distanced myself from them and focused on what I wanted to do.  I was trying to keep up with their careers and just decided, I didn't want to "do it" just because they were.  I've got talent, but don't necessarily want to be a family photographer.  Anyways, I'm not getting on that rant right now...maybe later.  Even though I've officially "taken the year off" I decided to go to Austin for this workshop that I signed up for about a year ago.  I could still use the information and it was a great opportunity.  I haven't given up photography, just given up on trying to please everyone else, and just shoot what I want, when I want, for me.  I'm loving it again!!!!  So, I went to Austin on Wednesday night and met up with a group of photographers.  Our workshop was scheduled for ALL DAY on Thursday.  It was great!  We started at 10 AM (photographers like to sleep in) and went solid until 3:00 AM!!

 Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day (and some others).  I'll try to tell a bit of the "story" behind each shot.

This was the first shot of the day.  Zack set up the lights for us, explaining what he was doing.   Then we had to adjust our camera settings to get the shot we wanted.  You had about 1-2 minutes with the model and could take about 5 shots before someone else would take a turn.

Zack was goofing off and jumped in behind the model, so I snapped this shot real quick.  I love it!!  Even though Zack is out of focus. I had about 2 seconds to fire off this shot before Zack jumped out of the frame.

This shot was taken on a sunny parking garage rooftop at about 5:30 in the evening.  This shot was taken using a 10 degree grid spot.  I love these things!!!

Here is an "environmental shot" to show you what it really looked like in that spot before I took the photo.

Then we worked on some more "traditional" lighting. 

Then as the sun began to set we worked on exposing the ambient light (the nice cloudy sky at dusk, in this case).

Just a quick shot I took as the model was repositioning.  I love the feel of this one.

With 12 photographers after hours of work, we can get a bit silly.  This was Eric.  He works at the studio that hosted us for the day, Studio563. 

He just did (or is doing) an amazing project with the Livestrong Foundation.  He's taken photographs of childhood cancer survivors and is displaying them in several businesses around the 2nd Street district in Austin next weekend.  Each business will sell water bottles to help raise money for the Livestron Foundation.  After the "show" the portraits will be displayed in the Livestong Foundation building in Austin for a year.  After that, the photographs will be given to the children and their families as the next group of photographs take their place next year.  Makes me want to do something with my friend Lauri's hospital in St. Louis.  I'll have to think and work on that!

At one point during the evening the wind picked up and inverted the convertible umbrella we were shooting with.  Zack managed to catch it before it blew off the top of the 10-story parking garage.  I managed to snap a picture of it all!!

Later in the evening we headed down to an alley and set up a motorcycle that one of the photographers had and had our models pose with the bike.  We were working again on ambient light.  It was pitch black in this alley.  It was so dark we had to shine a flashlight on the model so our cameras could focus.

I didn't do so good with the ambient light on these, but I liked the shot a bit darker, moodier.

We headed back indoors for some more grid spot work.  I liked the "ray of light" that we got with this grid spot bleeding onto the backdrop here.  Again, this is in a well lit studio.  But with the right settings you can block out the ambient light.

Towards the end of the evening we headed out in small groups to do some independent shooting.  I managed this shot.  I like the mood.

Not a great photograph, but I wanted to show what the "cubbie" that we were shooting in looked like and how well lit it was.  In this space, I managed the shot above.

Great part about the week was that Shannon was in Austin on business this week so I got to spend some time with him as well.  Since we were both going to be in town and Landon was living the high-life with his GaGa and Grandaddy, Shannon and I decided to stay over on Friday night and have an overnight date!!  We stayed in a nice hotel on points and because Shannon is a Diamond status we got upgraded to a room on the top floor with all the executive floor amenities.  We had a nice dinner at Cool River in north Austin followed by a movie.  We enjoyed the time away, and together!