Went to another ‘Evening with Joe McNally’ talk and demo last Thursday in New York. Sat down a couple of mins early and looked at the workshop calendar leaflet in front of me. Was a bit surprised to see a picture of me staring back at me on the top of the page. The pic was taken at the last ‘Evening with Joe McNally’ I went to back in May. It was so good, and such good value that I went again last week. Ok, so the pic didn’t really include my face… and I was pretty much obscured entirely… anyway… red arrow = me, green arrow = Joe McNally….
The workshops at Adorama are pretty cool – this one was only 3 and a bit hours, but for $25, which includes getting a $25 voucher to use at Adorama, it’s incredible value. It’s also Joe McNally – an excellent speaker / entertainer / stand-up comedian. If you haven’t seen him speak, or are wondering if it’s worth doing a workshop with him, I would definitely sign up if you have the opportunity!
The workshop started with Joe talking through some of his previous work, and some of his new work – which included the recent ‘Last of the Neanderthals‘ cover image and article. Joe McNally is definitely one of those unusual photographers who are good at both presenting and entertaining.
After a break, there were some technical hitches – gotta love technology – all were dealt with calmly (threaten camera/laptop with impending death), and then a demonstration on setting up a portrait shoot from nothing. Started with the subject in room light, then added a flash (on camera) then added off-camera flash, then progressed through umbrella-use, positioning, diffusers and c-stands. Finished up with a great shot, and the ‘learning’ process as we went through the whole sequence was well worth the evening.
UPDATE… the man himself has an update on his blog, including the pictures that he took during the demonstration – see Joe McNally’s blog entry here. Enjoy!
