We all live in a big a$$ yellow bus. We are on the road with our OneLight Family Tour!

We are currently in Asheville, NC. As soon as we wrap up the OneLight here tonight we drive all night to DC. With the exception of Pittsburgh we are having mixers in each city and we would love for you to come out and catch some live music, win gift cards from B&H, OneLight DVDs, and network within your local photographic community. The mixers are free and open to the public. Here is where we will be…

7/1 :: Washington DC

7/6 :: Cincinnati, OH

7/8 :: Indianapolis, IN

7/11 :: Chicago, IL

7/13 :: Saint Louis, MO

7/15 :: Nashville, TN

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for all of the details as to places and times in these cities. Hope to meet you soon!

Cheers,
Zack

I saw this picture five miles away. I knew exactly what it would look like…

Five miles away.

Tonight we had what we have been referring to as the “OneGuy” workshop. Some of you may remember that Meg and I got stuck in Italy thanks to the Ksadf;ljasdflkjsdikill volcano in Iceland. Because we were stranded there for an extra six days we had to cancel a OneLight workshop. That was a mess.

One of the guys who signed up for that workshop wrote to us and said that if he could just come in for an evening one on one session that would be good. He needed some specific answers to some specific questions. Since we had to cancel the workshop we were willing to do whatever we could to accommodate his request. So tonight, we had a OneGuy workshop. Well, that’s not completely true, OneLight alum Perry came by to hang out as well. Perry brought Lauren. Lauren was our subject for the evening.

So we worked inside a bit and then got in a few cars to head out on location. I had one specific spot in mind with a great east facing shooting position with a nice big view of the sky. I love sky shots. I just do. Anyway… As we pulled out I looked to the West and the most brilliant cloud formations were popping up. The sky to the East was blank. Nothing. Not a single cloud. My mind started going through all the west facing locations that I knew of that were in close proximity to the studio because we were losing light and I had to get those clouds.

My mind was racing and as cliché as it may seem for Atlanta, the only spot I knew where I could get those clouds in a shot and get there in time was the Jackson St. bridge. It is “the” ATL skyline shooting position. I can’t tell you how many hip hop videos have been shot on that bridge or how many photo shoots you can see on any given day happening there. Heck, when we rolled up there was an engagement session being shot there.

… But I saw this picture. I looked at the clouds. I saw the frame they were making in the sky. I knew if I dropped down a bit with my 35mm lens I could place Lauren right smack dab in the middle of them and the exposure of the sky was to the point that I should be able to pull this off at f2.8 and a decent shutter of 250th or 125th. I knew I wanted f2.8 so that the clouds would go out of focus. I knew my 35mm lens would hold enough depth of field to see the texture of the clouds but not be too sharp. I knew the location and I knew I could not only frame her within the clouds but within a few buildings in the skyline. I knew exactly what this frame was going to look like while I was still driving down the street.

I’m not trying to show off. I’m not trying to act like a photo ninja. I’m trying to drive home the point that IF you know your gear you can pre-visualize the pictures you want to make. You can be driving to a location knowing exactly which lens you are going to grab, which modifier you want, and what the basic idea of exposure should be. How do you come to this intimate knowledge of your gear, your light, and your exposure? How?

By shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, and shooting some more.

If you aren’t actively working with your gear and shooting pictures on a regular basis then you aren’t learning and you aren’t growing and you’ll never get very far with your craft. Plain and simple.

I quit my day job 6.5 years ago to become a full time photographer. I’d say I hit this level of comfort with my gear, my light, and my exposure in the last year or so. Let’s just say it took five years of shooting two to four jobs a week to get there.

The photo above isn’t the best shot I’ve ever taken but it is exactly how I knew it would look when I was still five miles away from the spot.

How much are you shooting? Enough or do you need to be getting out there some more? I’m not shooting enough. Yes I can nail this shot but the next shots in my mind… I don’t know how I’m going to approach those yet. I still have a lot to learn.

Cheers,
Zack

This is the live blog post from my creativeLIVE class going on right now. I’ll be updating this through the weekend. You can watch it live here.

Here is the Home Depot tag for the shiny tile board stuff I’ll be using on the white seamless. I typically can find this stuff at Home Depot and Lowes in the paneling or bath section.

Find the list of gear I’m using via this link.

See more images after the jump…

Impromptu “family” photo after the class…

More blogging and photos to come in this post through the weekend.

Send questions to us via twitter with the #AskZack or in the creativeLIVE chat room. I would not suggest sending questions via the comments on this blog post as we are not going to be monitoring this as close as we are the Twitter and chat room feed… but feel free to leave comments all the same. Ok, I’m being called on set. More to come.

Cheers,
Zack

I’m not the type to talk much about my workshops but a number of folks have expressed interest in the three day Photo 101 as to what that actually look likes if you were to attend one. Someone from this weekend’s workshop asked why I didn’t blog about my workshops. I said I didn’t want to seem like I’m trying to sell them all the time so I just keep quiet about it. They said they would appreciate seeing something about the workshops and a blog post would have been nice to read before coming to one. So…

First, what is the Photo 101? It is an intense three day workshop I’ve been developing for a year that is aimed at the hobbyist / amateur photographer that wants to take photography from a hobby or interest and move it into a job. It’s limited to 10 students per workshop.

Friday :: 9:00 am – 6:00 pm :: The first day of the workshop is lecture, lecture, lecture. Everything about aperture, shutter speed, metering modes, working with available light, and optimum camera settings for different photographic applications like portraits vs. events. Just before lunch I break the students up into pairs and have them photograph each other. We then critique those images at the end of the day. These images are shot at the beginning so I can judge the level of everyone involved before the class gets into the meat of applying the lecture material. We also spend a good deal of time talking about lens selection. Choosing the right lens for the picture you want to make is one of the most important things you do as a photographer.  If you don’t know your lenses and know what they do you are shooting blind.

The goal of all of this information is two fold. One is to understand the foundation of photography as it applies to shooting photos for clients and two; the importance of knowing the fundamentals and rules to get started with as you walk on to a shoot. Yes we want to be super creative photographers that push boundaries but if you start out never knowing those boundaries then you never have a rock solid starting point to build from. Starting out you have to be able to nail the fundamentals. They have to be second nature to you. You want things like reciprocal exposures, camera features and settings, and foundational lighting principles to be hardwired into your brain stem along with heart beats and breathing patterns. If you don’t have the foundation you are going to have a hell of a time trying to build something of value on… nothing. Well, that’s my philosophy about it.

Saturday :: 9:30 am – 7:00 pm :: This is the day of shooting, shooting, shooting. We started applying information from the previous day’s lecture to working with actual “off the street” clients. We started with simple headshots. Nothing revolutionary here but the goal is you should be able to fall out of bed and nail a headshot. We starteded with window light only, moved to window light plus reflectors, and then moved outdoors to use scrims and reflectors. We spent the first half of the day working with 5 clients to nail a headshot in and around our studio with the emphasis being you don’t have to have a “studio”.  Any old window light will do.

Since your first foray into professional photography most likely will include portraits that is what we concentrate on. Note that very little has been done to the photos in this post. Maybe a hair of color correction, a slight tweak of contrast, a bit of crop, and an occasional B&W conversion. Light is our photoshop.

After lunch it was time to start with the headshot and then find out where and how to break the rules and why you would want to do that and when you most definitely do NOT want to break the rules. For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening we worked with three models and two “clients” who were fellow photographers but easily opened up in front of the camera. Our amazing sexy location for this? My yard. We all descended on my yard for the afternoon to create portraits. The exercise was learning to shoot in any location. Please note that I do not have a manicured English garden for a backyard. I still have a dead old Christmas tree thrown in the bushes because the city never picked it up. One of those back yards.

For the first part of the day we had very clearly defined constraints we were trying to work under and then it was time to throw some of those constraints out the window and remind ourselves that our job is supposed to be fun. We can nail the safe or the expected or the needed shot but how can we go beyond that? Can we shoot an out of focus portrait? The answer is yes we can. I love this shot by Jessica Cook.

Here are some more from the yard… Find a simple background and get all up in it…

Light the eyes. Light the eyes. Light the eyes!

This is Meg’s recording studio in the backyard. We call her Loretta.

I love this image that Lisa created in the front yard of Esther laying in the grass.

Hawke Danger gets in on the action…

I don’t get to shoot a whole lot at workshops because that isn’t the goal. The goal is to have students shoot as much as possible. I don’t care for those gang bang shoots where fourteen million shutters are clicking 8 inches apart from each other. I would rather folks get a more hands on approach to building images with me roaming around giving feedback and answering questions.  I will piggy back off of you though from time to time. Here is one I squeaked out as Terry was setting up her own shot.

I really love these next two…

I love ‘em all really. It was really, really, really hard to edit for this blog post. I just did it by gut reaction to photos and there are about 15 others that I’m not posting because the Internets would blow up with this many pictures in one blog post.

After a full day of shooting we headed down to the beer garden at the Marlay House for dinner, beer, conversation, and more beer. It was a gorgeous evening of beer and photography and beer.

Sunday :: 10:00 am – 1:00 am Monday morning :: Yes. We go until we go on the last day. We started the third day off with editing the work that was shot on Saturday and going through post production and archiving and file management and all of that fun stuff. We went next door for lunch and then had two models come in for a few hours in the afternoon. I split the group of photographers into two groups and gave them assignments. THEN… get this. I taped their screens for part of the shooting time so they couldn’t chimp. They couldn’t see if they got the exposure right. They couldn’t see what the photo was turning out like. They had to, get this… think it through and you know what? When you don’t see what you are shooting it is possible to still create great work! Like this…

After the shooting session we got into business and marketing and working ideas as you get started in this industry. We ate dinner, we kicked back a few beers, and we critiqued the images from the afternoon. It was a long, long, long day. You can expect 35 or more hours of workshop time in a three day period.

I’m really proud of this group. I mean, I’m proud of all the photo 101′s so far but as I get this class tweaked and focused I’m really glad to see the kind of work folks can produce after a relatively short amount of instruction time. You should see their images from the first assignment on day one!  ;)

We have some spots left for November and we *may* be announcing one in June but the folks on the waiting list have first dibs on that. It has not been listed yet. Details will be on the OneLight Workshop site if we open that date.  Note that for now these Photo 101 workshops will only be in Atlanta and will always run Friday – Sunday.

So here you go Jessica! A blog post about the Photo 101!

Cheers,
Zack

Meg, Hawke, Dan, Sherri, and I have had an amazing week here in Dubai being part of the teaching crew at Gulf Photo Plus. This is my second year teaching at GPP. Last year, being the new guy, I had to take the group photo of all the amazing photographers that teach at this event. This year Mohamed Somji, the organizer of GPP, decided it would be fun to have a shootout between David Hobby, Joey Lawrence, and myself.

The rules were simple. We would be given a subject to photograph in the main auditorium in front of a live crowd. We would have twenty minutes each to shoot tethered & edit a photo while our images were projected on a large screen. We all would have the same subject to photograph and we were not allowed to see what the other was doing. Hobby went first. I was second and Joey brought it up from behind. We were also told there might be a surprise or two.

The surprise was A) we would have two subjects instead of one and B) Joe McNally would have a microphone and be giving live commentary as we were setting up a shot and shooting. Two people? David and I asked the same question… “Do they both have to be in the photo at the same time?”

No pressure.

So the photo above is what I came up with. It was a great teaching exercise if anything and we all had a fun time with it. Yes… there were video cameras and it will be online as soon as we have links to it. David and Joey will post their photos at some point I’m sure. Joey… well he threw us all a curve ball. Lastly… an official winner was never named so… IMHO the best shot was

Six days of non-stop teaching and the stress of having to perform to a packed auditorium has me worn out. I have two days of personal shooting to do now. Can’t wait to share more images from this trip. I have had such an amazing time here in Dubai. I love this city. Usedfilm Dubai? I don’t hate the sound of that.

Cheers,
Zack

Cheers,
Zack

I take pictures. Meg makes music. I go out and take my pictures. Meg goes out and plays her music. What if we combined them? And what if we brought the whole family? And made it a road trip with workshops and concerts?

That is what we are doing this summer! The OneLight tour starts this June and we are hitting the road for three weeks. From Asheville to Nashville with photography and music all along the way.

You know those mixers we like to throw before a OneLight? Well Meg is playing our mixers this summer! We are really looking forward to it. We hope to meet many of you along the way. Mixers, BTW, are open to the public!

To make things come together and have a successful tour, our City Coordinator, Kara Pecknold, needs to find city representatives for each city we plan to visit:

June 29/30 Asheville, NC
July 1/2 Washington, DC
July 5 Pittsburgh, PA
July 6/7 Cincinnati, OH
July 8/9 Indianapolis, IN
July 11/12 Chicago, IL (city rep already found)
July 13/14 St Louis, MO
July 15/16 Nashville, TN

If you want to work with us on this unique OneLight experience, contact Kara directly and she can provide you with more information about all it entails. kara [at] olivelifegroup [dot] com.

For more information about the dates of the workshops visit OneLightWorkshop.com.

Cheers,
Zack

I’m excited to be part of Gulf Photo Plus again this year. I could go on and on and on about the event.  It’s simply one of the most unique series of workshops I’ve seen. There are six solid days of workshops that go from morning ’till night with lots of special events.

The image above is part of a project I’ll be showing for the first time and it will only be shown as prints this year.  There will be a showing of this work later this year in Atlanta.

Normally I would give you all of the details about the conference and what to do in Dubai but David Hobby has done it for me!  :)

For those of you in Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East, or Asia, this is a must attend photography event. I’m equally excited and nervous about an intensive two day, on location, class that I’ll be teaching. No lecture. No power point presentation. Just get on a bus and shoot for two days! It’s going to kick my butt. In addition to this class I’ll be teaching a few OneLight’s and a one day Photo 101 class.

Cheers,
Zack

Did some testing with Mych (pronounced Mike) this week.  He has an amazing range of emotions.

Shot with a silver 86″ para on the cyc wall.  I’ll be teaching this technique at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai at the beginning of March and again at Photoshop World in Orlando at the end of March.

Cheers,
Zack

Just finished my 2nd day of teaching this week in Texas. Tonight I’m in Austin. We wrapped up at 2:30am. I’m beat but I wanted to share at least one from the OneLight… even though this one is TwoLights.

Cheers,
Zack 

I keep telling myself… “I just need to make it through November.” If meetings this week go as planned then I may need to start saying… “I just need to make it through December.” Am I running to stand still? Nope. I’m running to grow.

I’m thankful for work.
I’m thankful for my wife supporting my work.
I’m thankful for the community I’m surrounded with.
I’m thankful for opportunities to connect, share, and learn.

All that said, I’m at that point where I wonder if I’m biting off more than I can chew. I’m really glad to be at this point because it means my field is growing and that means I get to bring more people on board. As I grow, others grow as well. We all grow together.

Things I have to get done around these here parts…

• The “Call To Action” update blog post. I’m totally slacking on that one. Sorry!
• I have a draft called “Get A Grip” that helps you put stuff together and rig things to other things. I like things. I hope you do too.
• October 11th will be our next episode of Critique! Thanks for keeping us to the fire on that one everyone!
• I have to tell you all about my experience at the Vincent Laforet 5dMkII workshop. An eye opener. I was like, “Whoa.”

Coming up… I’m teaching the many uses of white seamless at PhotoPlus in NYC later this month. Hope to see you there.

Here’s some pics from last week’s LA workshop. Well, one of them. That was a double header. Big ups to Marc D’Amour for making the LA workshops run like German trains. If you are unfamiliar with the way in which German trains run then let me be the one to instruct you that, according to my high school German teacher, they run real güt.

Know when to turn your light off… Apologies to the synagogue. I had to tag something. It washes off.

We were in Hollywood so all I had to say was… “Cue the birds! And…. Birds in 3… 2… 1… Birds! —- Aaaaannnnnnddd… CUT!” Yes. I’m a dork.

Ok lighting folks… Take a look at the next two photos. One of these was shot in the afternoon and one was shot at night. I was demonstrating that off camera lighting is predictable and can be replicated over and over and over again no matter where you are. Which is which?

More to come?

• The Seattle workshop was amazing. Seriously. Big thanks to the Boone brothers and Chase Jarvis and images and thoughts to come from that. You know, one of these days. I still haven’t put images up from the Australia OneLights. I’m so effing behind on blogging. But you know, it’s not like I’m curing cancer with this thing!

• I twittered about thinking about thoughts while flying home from Seattle. I’ve given myself a deadline of 2/10/2010 to get our new brand off the ground. I wish there were 20 months in the year so I could have until 20/10/2010. I know what I’m going to be doing this winter. It better not be comparing myself to others!

#MostRamblingPostEver

Oh… Crap. This the wind beneath my wings today…

Cheers,
Zack