OneLight Workshop with Zack Arias

I signed up for his workshop last November as soon as I read the email releasing the tour dates and locations.  The Washington, DC stop for OneLight sold out in one day.  I was super excited, and almost thought I'd never see the day...seven plus months of waiting seemed like an eternity.  But it was worth the wait!

If you don't know (and if you don't know, what rock are you living under?!), Zack Arias is an Atlanta, GA-based, nationally renowned, music and editorial photographer.  Over the course of a nearly 15-hour day, Zack took the ever-intimidating and often-frustrating subject of off-camera lighting and broke it down to a 2nd grade level.  (Apparently, I'm stuck in 1st grade, because my eyes glazed and my head spun a couple of times throughout the day.)  He reviewed his preferred equipment and explained what he would use in what conditions.  He then walked us through the relationship of shutter speed, aperture and flash power, and how they all work together to give you the results you're seeking. 

Two of the most important lessons learned: 
- Previsualize:  You can't set up a shot if you don't know how you want it to look.
- Know Your Numbers!  Know the relationships between the numbers and how changing one setting affects another.  This means you aren't sitting there fiddling with your gear while your client waits for you.  (i.e. - if you want to open your aperture 3 stops, you know you need to bring your flash power down 3 stops, and you know exactly what those numbers are.)  And........practice, practice, practice!

Zack setting up a shot to practice fill flash:

Sarah was one of our hard working models for the day...

Emma Saal is a certified yoga teacher and Thai massage practitioner...

She gave us some killer moves to photograph later in the night:

Flow is a DC-based hip hop artist from Senegal and is a member of the group Wagëblë.  He has a real presence about him, and my absolute favorite images from the day were of him.

One of my last images taken around 11 p.m., when I was barely functioning and on information overload.  Emma, you were awesome for hanging in there till the end!

Thanks to Stacey Vaeth Gonzalez for graciously hosting the workshop at Past Tense Studio in Mt. Pleasant.  And a big thank you to Zack for all the wisdom you imparted throughout the day, and staying until all of our questions were answered.  Also, a huge thanks to Meg and the kids for allowing us to borrow Zack for the super long day.

If anyone is considering this workshop, don't hesitate to sign up!  I just love this guy....

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