I had been struggling with some personal things as well as some professional stuff. I was trying to figure out how to give a lighting workshop that wouldn't just be strobist jr. or strobist lite. Then it hit me.
Could a photowalk be turned into a hands-on lighting workshop?
I think people can get a little hung up on shooting other people. I mean there's nothing wrong with that. Heck, it's what I do. But when it comes to learning the principles of lighting it doesn't matter what you shoot, the physics and and the rules are the same. So as I walked along shooting only ambient I wondered to myself: could I use a flash to add drama to a rather plain image of a found object to create interest and drama and could I teach that to other people.
Several weeks passed from that day as I did other things and thought about this "off-line", letting it stew. But yesterday I finally put the hammer down and tried it out. I met up with my friend Chris for some coffee and a stroll through Georgetown. I brought with me a single bare flash on a stand, a Canon 20D with a wide angle lens, and two pocket wizards. There was only one way to find out if my idea would work and that was to attempt a proof of concept. I had no idea what would happen. Luckily I discovered it would work.
The following are images from that stroll. All of the subject matter was found in various locations in Georgetown. No shot was planned in advance. I just happened upon something that struck me as interesting and I tried to figure out how to use flash to make it more interesting.
Broken-Down Mercedes Convertible.
Airstream Trailer with Chair
Broken Down Mercedes Dash Board
Doorway with Wine Bottle
Diesel Truck Hitch and Transmission
2 comments:
Great idea. Walkabouts are something that some of my friends and I do this on a regular basis. I love the idea of a flash based walkabout, though. We are planning a Flickr meet with off camera flash as a learning topic. I think this sort of thing is a great exercise for us to use as a follow up to the lesson!
I think this could be very successful because it's likely to appeal to a broader audience of amateurs who recently purchased their first hot-shoe equiped camera. Your correct that so much strobist photography is centered around photographing people. Unfortunately 90% of these photos (as beautiful as they are) are unlikely to be hung on a wall. I think this could be a great schtick. Maybe you should pitch your wares to Ritz's / Wolf's / Kit's of the world (and Glazer's too). You could get a steady stream of clients to help. Sure, they'll be soccer moms and may not know their aperture from their derriere but that's the whole point of instruction, isn't it? That's not to say more serious photog's won't be interested in it, but I see a good market in the "bought my first DSLR last month" crowd.
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