As I mentioned in my last post, I was in Chicago a week or so back to attend Zack Arias’ OneLight workshop. Unfortunately, I never did get around to going out and shooting the city like I had planned, but did have a great time nonetheless and the workshop itself was excellent. Running from about 9:30a to about 11:30p on Monday, 7/12, it was probably the longest yet fastest day I have ever spent in a long time.

Getting there a bit early, I started out the day greeting and introducing myself to some of the other students, of which there were fifteen total including myself. Around 9:30a, and after a short intro, Zack took us right into the meat of the material with a detailed lecture on basic lighting principals and concepts that ran until 3p or so. We then had a short break for lunch and then jumped right into the shooting setups up ’til about 9p or so. Dinner ensued, and then an hour or so was used for us to go out in groups to shoot our own ideas with whatever modifiers we wanted. We had a short wrap up and Q&A session, and then that was it. Considering we went for almost 14 hours straight, it felt like it flew by and I was actually far from being exhausted afterwards, ending up going out with some friends and staying up late gaming til 3 or 4a.

So how was the class? Absolutely great, and very informative. Truth be told, I knew the majority of it already just from studying on my own, but I wanted to experience a workshop firsthand, shoot in an environment with other photogs, and also meet Zack in person as I really respect him and what he’s done with his photography and career. He’s very personable, laid back, and excellent at explaining and demonstrating his material in a way that is very easy to comprehend for even the most beginning shooter. Our class was a mixed bag of amateurs and pros at various levels, and Zack took the time to ensure that everyone understood the material and were comfortable applying it in various situations. I enjoyed the workshop very much, and would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to learn off camera flash in an enjoyable environment.

Here are some snaps from the workshop, mostly behind the scenes stuff so you can get an idea of what kind of environment we were working in. The last three are also a few shots from the actual practice setups we used. For more, you can check out my Flickr set from the workshop, which I posted to share with anyone interested in OneLight. Personally, I think the shots are not as good as they could have been b/c I was fairly nervous when it came time to shoot, so I didn’t take the time to really try and get top quality shots; more just to get the lighting example dialed in and understood than anything else.

Lastly, a big thanks to Zack for putting on a such a fine workshop, to the models for being such champs for putting up with all of us, and also to all of the other attendees as you were a great bunch – very friendly and helpful, and making the class very enjoyable to share with you all.