OMG My Mind was Blown : Zack Arias One Light Workshop

I was trying to hold out on doing a post about this till later but it was so mind blowing for me that I just had to write about it sooner.

Wednesday I spent 9:30 in the morning till 10:30 at night learning about off camera lighting in Zack Arias One Light Workshop. I had set as one of my goals for this year was to become more proficient at off camera flash. While I love me some yummy creamy natural light I didn’t want to feel limited and confined to only shooting during the day.

Ever since I saw Zack on CreativeLive I knew I wanted to take his class. He is a straight shooter, honest, candid, upfront  without the fluff  - which is so refreshing these days. And the man know his ish!

I fought a migraine the whole class and towards the end was staving off nausea – which was a major Debbie Downer for me.  I was sitting class thinking “OMG! Why did I get sick this of all days?!!!!! ”

The biggest question people inevitably will ask is “Was the class worth it?”

My answer “ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!”

I walked away with the following:

• Know the  foundation principles of photography. There is no way around it. You have to know Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed, Inverse Square Law.
• Know your gear. Master the gear you have before buying new equipment.
• You don’t need a whole lot of fancy stuff to get started, a simple set up can produce some awesome results.
• KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). It doesn’t have to be hard or complicated.  Start simple and build from there.
• Practice. Practice. And practice some more. Only through experience will it become second nature. Just like in my dance classes you form muscle memory so after a while you don’t have to think  about it.Same thing in photography. Do enough and it will come without thought.
• Flash is so much easier than you think.
• Be yourself. Be different. Who wants the be a lemming?

While I will still primarily shoot with natural light I can’t wait to integrate some of the principles I learned in the workshop into my wedding and portrait work.

Here is our first set up of the day and I was blown away by how such a simple set up could give these GORGEOUS results.

A couple shots of our host Jared.

Here is the master at work.

Our first outdoor set up where we were balancing flash with ambient light. I liked the version here where the flash overpowers the ambient light of the scene.

Here you can see what the natural light of the setting was.

If my mind wasn’t blown already this shot made it EXPLODE! Love, Love, Love this set up.

And here is my own set up of one of my fellow workshop participants Carmine.

 

Lastly want to thank Zack for traveling and doing this workshop and sharing his knowledge and expertise with so many folks. And a shout out to Jared for being an awesome host and inviting us into his cool space for the day.