Getting Dynamic!

Yet another workshop in the bag.

For the first time since we started hosting training/workshops at our studio, we set-up this one in our actual studio space. I think it went of very well.













As for Dan’s workshop….AWESOME!

Each day started in the studio and we hit it until lunch. Having that much pizza in two days just can’t be good for you though I wish it was. Lets see…pizza for lunch, left over pizza’s for supper…oh, and don’t forget those late night pizza snacks! We did that two days in a row! I am not kidding.

As both Gail and I have loved the work we have seen from Dan, we took turns as much as possible sitting in and trying to soak some of this up. As of right now…our minds are screaming with new ideas on how to light events and portraits.

So both afternoons we got to let Dan loose on our Studio grounds. Our first two models were are our future Bride and Groom, Pam and John. Having never met them before in the back of my head I had to wonder if this was a good idea or not. This could go really well …or… you know. When they showed up I thought to myself “know one is going to believe this”. Pam, a beautiful Bride to be and John, her handsome Groom.








They were sooooo patient the whole time. They looked like stars as the Papa Razzi was chasing them around with spot lights and strobe packs in tow.

A BIG thanks to both of them for being so nice and patient to all of us.

Next up was Dan's assistant Jim. An expert with the battery packs and lights, Jim was also one of Dan's photography subjects. You can't beat versatility like that.














We all again took turns working the lights and also combined light sources like halogens and LEDs.


The second day right after lunch we had Braeden’s one year cake smashing. What a cute boy! We did some existing light work with him.































Then came our “back-up model” (I have to laugh) Katie. We had to "rough it" as you can see!
















Daughter of one of our Sunday session students, she put the sauce in saucy.


A HUGE Thanks to Billy and the boys over at Performance Custom Cycle! Our neighbors at the Mill, the let us drop in and take over their shop for a little photo session amongst the bikes.

If that wasn't enough, they rolled out this award winning bike for us to drape our model on.

THANK YOU!


















Here is a little video I through together from day 2. (My apologies to the Day 1 attendees. I forgot the camera otherwise I would have done for Sunday as well.)





At the end of it all, we had a great time and many of our students went home with some sweet raffle gifts.
A big thanks to Hunts Photo, Lenspro To Go, Lustre Color, and of Course Dan Doke for providing the raffle gifts.

Ryan drove all the way up from Connecticut for the workshop, so we were happy to have him win one of Dan's DVD's.










Jasmine was one of our "ASA Scholarship" students from Northeaster University that took advantage of one of the complimentary seats.

This proved to us once again how much we love hands on workshops, let alone running them.

Among all the cool things that Dan showed and told us, one thing that I will always remember and take away from this class is what Dan kept saying throughout both sessions, and that is that you have to give the the Bride and Groom something they can not get from there Aunt or Uncle that attended the wedding with their camera.

I heard and understood it at the time, but I guess I really didn’t let it sink in. Sounds silly, but it really didn't hit me until a day or so after.

How embarrassing would it be as a “Professional” photographer to be shown up by a guest?

For Gail and I, that really solidified the need to ALWAYS be pushing the envelope in all the ways possible in any situation. I think that is what makes Dan, Dan. He finds the usual and makes it unusual.

Isn’t that what being a “Professional” is all about really? Or should I say “Passionate Professional”?

Thank you Dan!

ADOBE SMART OBJECTS CLASS - HOO RAW!

Another great day with one of my favorite teachers/instructors, Ted Dillard. Nobody I know can physically show the importance and advantages of the RAW workflow like he can.

It also show me that Adobe is starting to give Photoshop users the same RAW power that is Lightroom users have. Sweet.


A lot of the Smart Object interfaces are similar to the Lightroom controls.

We raffled off another Hunt Photo and Video card to a lucky winner as well as one of Ted’s RAW Pipeline Smart Object books.


And yet another big thank to JB from PPAM for letting me steal a couple of class pics off of him. He always has his camera at the ready.



As good as the class was I, as a host, got started off with yet another example of good old Murphy’s law in the morning.

This pictures shows both of the projectors I had on hand and that box in the middle is an extra bulb.

The night before I had BOTH working in that very same room with a witnesses. What could go wrong?

Take a guess what happened. The Epson lamp did not turn at all and the extra bulb I had was for the other model.

The other worked on my PC but did not on Ted’s Mac, where all the training material was.


GOTTA LOVE THAT! I was quite literally ready to bite my way through a freaking tree.

My last saving grace was our neighbors upstairs at Prize de Fer fencing club. The lent us there LCD TV.

Another BIG thank you to them for saving the class. A thanks goes out to the class as well for dealing witgh that situation.

Needless to say one of the class surveys asked for “better A/V prep”. Not to disagree from their perspective. I would have wrote the same thing, but damn it! From my perspective I could not have done anymore than I did. Two projector and an extra bulb! What the F&@#!

Once we were up and running it took me an hour and a half just for my blood pressure to return to normal. Another good war story I guess.

Our first class is now history!

The first class at ASA Photographic Studios is now a part of history.



Thanks again to JB of Special Effect Photograhy for his picture contributions.


Gail and I had a wonderful time hosting this first training class and hanging out for the day with other photogs.

During the afternoon break, we took everyone on a walk around the grounds. We also brought people up to the Studio. It was very cool to share it with everyone.

Some things we, as hosts, learned = )
-Ask the furniture shop above us to turn off their air compressor the night before a training = )
-When you make coffee for the afternoon session, don’t leave it in the kitchen. Put it out so people know its there (yes we read your surveys!) We're sorry about that! = )
-Labeling everyone’s lunch orders is an easy way to win points with starving students!
-Tweak lights

How good was our class? Well, so good that Mac and PC users co-existed peacfully!



From student to raffle winner! One Hunt gift card went to a Billerica native.



Overall, it was a great overview of Lightroom. It both enlightened us to a couple of features that we weren’t using and reinforced for us how thoroughly we know and use this program.

From this class we are inspired to pull together follow up power sessions that shows how we use Lightroom to significantly increase the quality, organization and efficiency of our workflow. This will be hands on workshop focusing 80-90% on the Library and Develop modules. This, for us, is where Lightroom shines…..

Let us know if you would be interested in joining us for “Lightroom for Lightspeed”. Date to be determining, but we are considering Monday/Tuesday evenings starting around 6pm.

A big thanks to everyone again for joining us at the beginning of our new venture!

Adobe Lightroom Training - Sunday March 15th

As most of you should know by now, the first class at ASA Photographic will be a full day of Adobe Certified Lightroom Training on Sunday, March 15th 9AM to 5PM.

Proudly, our first instructor we will be Jeff Shaffer of Shaffer Smith Photography LLC. You can read more about Jeff by clicking the link.

Click here for more information on the class and Jeff Shaffer.


Don't Forget! Register by March 8th to be entered into our classroom raffle to win 1 hour of one-on-one online training with Jeff. More goodies will be raffled off too!

OK, here is where I get to express my opinion without too much filtering from Gail.

George's opinion...
"Adobe Lightroom is hands down the best tool to be put out for photographers since, dare I say it, Photoshop itself! Whether you run high or low picture volumes, if you are not looking at Lightroom, YOU ARE MISSING THE BOAT!"

Yes Lightroom is a slightly different animal at first that you need to adjust to, but once you grasp the power of the workflow, you will NEVER go back. Photoshop is still as great as ever, but Lightroom takes 90% of the "normal" things you would do to an image (or to 1000 of them) and streamlines it beyond belief. I personally edited through 50,000 images last year with relative ease.

Other benefits: Organizing your images in endless ways and making them more accessible then ever. Easily keep you best work in virtual favorite folder without ever having more than the original files to reference. The printing module is a dream!

We’d love to hear your feedback and we hope you will spread the word! If you have any questions please e-mail me at george "at" asaphotographic "dot" com.