I actually found Don Giannatti’s workshop site by accident. I was trying to find a certain lighting technique and was pointed to his site by Google. I read about his workshop and became interested. I had been to few lighting workshops/seminars but Don’s was more in-depth, two-days, and priced reasonably. Not to mention that there was one workshop that was nearby, Baltimore. 
I found out later that the one in Baltimore was the advanced workshop. I could still do it, but I really wanted to learn about the different strobes and modifiers, and how they would affect the lighting quality. Fortunately, Don was kind enough to give me and few others a “catch-up” session the day before. So it was more like a three-day workshop for me.
Here’s one image I took on the last day. We used 5 speedlights on this setup.
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I had been using Neil van Niekerk’s lighting style for a while. I learned from his blog and postings at forums. However, I felt that I’m still missing few things and did understand few things he explained online. I then decided that I need to get a hands on training from Neil and planned to attend his workshop in Annapolis. Unfortunately, the one in Annapolis was canceled. Neil offered me to go to the one in Philadelphia. Which was about a couple of hours drive. I thought, why not? I didn’t want to wait for another year, and probably he won’t do workshop that’s close enough to Baltimore or Washington DC area next year.
So I drove to Philly at about 6:30 in the morning and got there at almost 9 a.m. due to morning rush hour.
The class was small, only 10 students max, so everyone will get more personalized attention from Neil. We learned so many stuff. At the end of the day (or I should say night), we were all tired. It was about a 10-hour workshop.
Neil also provided two models for us to practice throughout the entire day. Here are some of my favorite results from the workshop.
Indoor session using on camera flash bounced to a wall/ceiling.
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I always try to learn new photography skills in lighting, shooting style, composition, photo editing, etc. (you name it). I am also usually fascinated by other people’s work whether they’re pro or even newbie. I often analyze the technical and non-technical aspects if I find an eye-catching image.
One professional photographer whose work I had been admiring was Ben Jordan a.k.a. Sabawa. His style was unique and very eye-catching. Although most of his work was more toward fashion and modeling, I really wanted to learn his style to hone my skills especially for glamour high school senior portrait photography sessions. Of course some of the skills can be applied to wedding, engagement, family, or children photography.
Fortunately, I found out later that he provided individual workshop for pro photographers. I was really excited and immediately contacted him to inquire about the workshop. He offered me to do a session at Annapolis, but I wanted to see his studio which was located at Pocomoke City, Maryland. Pocomoke City is a small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, about two hours drive from Kent Island, or two and a half hour drive from Annapolis, but only about half hour drive from Ocean City.
I finally did a workshop with Ben in mid August. He provided a model, Kellie, who had been working with Ben for quite a while. Kellie was a very professional model; she was always ready to pose for us. I learned few things from her as well. We did the photo sessions outdoor, by the water, and also indoor in his studio.
Here are some of my favorite images from the session. You may notice that the style is different from what I usually do. However, the image editing or enhancing is my own style.
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Filed under: fashion, High School senior, model, Portrait | Comment (1)
