VSP Workshops Blog

The 2009 McNally Lighting Workshop Kicks Off

Remember I promised we’d be doing something called ‘Workshop Diaries’?  Well man of my word that I am, here’s the first instalment.  Today was the first day of our now annual Nikon Lighting Workshop, with Joe McNally and his bag of tricks at the teaching helm.  The will be the third year we’ve run this workshop with Joe now, and I’m glad to say, it’s a real blast each year.  Great group of people from all over the world attending – Mexico, Germany, Holland, USA and Australia.

Don’t Argue with the Teacher….

Day one on the lighting workshop usually starts off with a day in the palace, getting to grips with all the light-shaping tools that we’ll be using across the days.  For the first day we don’t bring in the professional models yet- we let everybody iron out the creases, figure out their group dynamics….and use each other as models for today…..and what happens when somebody wants to be a model but teacher ain’t having it??  Face the wrath of Hamish McNally – the fiercest strobe warrior this side of the Grand Canal…

Chimping 101….

Whoever said the art of chimping was dead…the group gathers around for a run-through of the Nikon menu settings as well as some of the most useful settings for the Nikon lighting system.  Joking apart – something Joe touched on in this morning’s intro talk was the real value of the camera’s LCD.  These days it’s become pretty popular to advocate not using the LCD to check your image.  Some say it doesn’t give you an accurate idea of the exposure, others say it takes your eyes and mind off the image and disengages you from your shot.  You know there may be an element of truth in both of those points – but as Joe said, the LCD was a massive step forward for many photographers – and a lot of the time it gives you a pretty darn good idea of how your shot turned out…so long live the chimp….in moderation (err for those who don’t know what chimping is….it’s the art of looking at your LCD screen and making little grunts of satisfaction as you admire your handy-work!)

Manfrotto Lends a Helping Hand

Over the last couple of years VSP have developed a really great working relationship with the guys at Manfrotto & Gitzo.  They’re actually based just up the road from us here in Venice.  Marco Tortato is their web marketing manager and also in charge of relationships with pros and educators such as ourselves.  Most of the kit we use on the workshop is either from Manfrotto or Lastolite.  We should also say a big thanks to Lastolite’s Marketing Manager Mark Langely for their ongoing support with their light-shaping kit such as the softboxes, skylight diffuser panels, umbrellas and various tri-grip reflectors.  So Marco from Manfrotto is his name, and lighting support systems are his game…big thanks to these two companies for their ongoing support…

So the first day ends- as I write I think a few participants are probably knee-deep in water as they do their night-shoot in San Marco Square…Venice has ‘high water’ this evening….flooding basically.
As you may already know we have our VSP Flickr page, where we actively encourage people to upload their images. We also encourage those people doing the workshop to upload their work from each day – as it’s not just a great way of showing others the images that perhaps don’t make it into the critique sessions – but also a great way for the wider photographic community to get involved.  You can find our VSP Flickr page here.  From what I can see I think some participants have already uploaded some shots…

More to come no doubt………