Posts Tagged ‘Joe McNally’

Warning, more images to come :)

As a continuation from my previous blog post, after a heavy buffet lunch at Shangri-La (believe me, the food there was so good that it was so difficult not to want to try everything!), we all proceeded with our own individual assignments. Individual means that we split up into various groups and each group consisted of 4 team members. Each team would have a model assigned to them and we had to split our time to photograph the model.

Both Shen and Hafiz were in my group and I was the 3rd person to have a go. Part of our assignment was that we were able to borrow any of the equipment available there. From the image below, you would know that we took an Ezybox softbox with an SB-900 and an external battery pack together with another SB-900. We also made used of our own equipment as well. Since we only had an hour, we had to decide on our location as soon as we could. We had the beautiful Melissa first.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 16 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2Here was Shen attempting his shot with us helping out by carrying the C-Stand

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 17 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2This was my attempt within 10 minutes. Wished I had more time to get the lighting set up a little bit more elaborately ;)

After the hour was up, we moved back into the workshop room where we were assigned another model to work with and we again had the usual 15 minutes. Our next model was Shirlyn who was a professional dancer (you can guess that Joe really likes dancers especially if you have read through both “The Moment it Clicks” and “The Hot Shoe Diaries”).

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 18 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2
My first attempt to begin with one light first before adding in additional lights. The first idea that came into my mind was to try out a multiple exposure shot but with movement but after consulting Joe, that setup would have taken me more than 15 minutes of my allotted time. I then decided that I would stick with the simple double exposure and the results are shown below.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 19 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2Double exposure, courtesy of a Nikon technology ;)

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 20 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2Since I managed to set things up pretty quickly, we then experimented with a few other shots with a simple two lighting system. Again still sticking to small flashes.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 21 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2After the assignments were over, we gathered downstairs for Joe to show us a little bit more of his concept and his ideas and how he actually came up with the shot.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 22 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2Joe took out the big gun for this, the 200mm f/2 lens which is a huge lens and cost a bomb!

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 23 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2

After the workshop ended and Joe had to rush over to Business.FM for a radio interview, we quickly had our books signed as well as took photos with Joe.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 24 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2Not forgetting Drew as well :)

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 25 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2Ok, I definitely need to lose lots of weight. Totally put on too much recently.

After the workshop, I had to stay back a while for a secret performance practice which was due to be showcased the day after at Joe’s Seminar. This portion was for Louis’ talk on guerrilla lighting. Whilst waiting for Joe to get back from his interview, Ian was toying around playing with his Alien Bees and while he was still setting up his lights, I took this shot of Melissa using available light.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 26 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2After a brief and expensive juice at the cafe, practice started and I somehow managed to spy this guy in the ballroom taking shots of the practice using an unmarked camera. Some say that it could be a Sony Alpha but others might say that its actually a new Canon. I don’t think it was a Nikon because of shape of it but before I start to speculate, we can’t really really tell what camera is that.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 27 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2An unknown person with a Sony Alpha 5D Mk2

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 28 JoeMcnally’s Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop – Part 2And of course Johan was assisting out the whole day that after almost 16 hours of carrying light stands and small flashes, it seems that he has really gone bonkers ;)

This was how I spent my birthday this year with those crazy photographers as well as the honour and pleasure of meeting Joe and Drew as well as learning from him. I must practice what I learned so do drop me an email if you are interested in having your personal portraiture done.

I spent my birthday which was on the 5th of February at Joe McNally’s workshop here in KL a couple of weeks back. This is of course thanks to Louis from Wedshooter as well as the Wedshooter team who made it all happen. The workshop was a hands-on as well as a full day course which grouped 15 photographers on a Friday in Shangri-La in KL to learn about lighting and get to know Joe a little better.

In case you do not know who Joe McNally is, Joe is the most amazing photographer I have met and you might have probably seen most of his work on the cover of the National Geographic magazine. He is also the author of two amazing books, “The Moment it Clicks” and the more recent “The Hot Shoe Diaries“.

When I got wind that Joe was coming to KL, I was quite excited but a little hesitant as well as I thought that the workshops were going to cost a bomb. Frankly, it was a big sum for me but it was an investment for me. The best part was that I managed to schedule the workshop on the same day as my birthday! (Joe had five 1-day workshops here spanning from the 1st of Feb till the 5th of Feb).

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 01 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1Here is Louis introducing himself as well as Wedshooter.TV before introducing the man of the day.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 02 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1Joe started off the session with some quick introduction about himself as well as his assistance, Drew Gurian. He then went on to get to know each of us and asked us what are our expectations for this workshop. This was good start I felt as I managed to see who the other participants were. There were of course familiar faces in the group as well.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 12 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1

Friends in the photography industry such as Ian, Shen, Edwin, Hafiz and Gabriel were also attendees of the workshop. Funnily, Joe mentioned that our group was the only all guy group. I can see the testosterone levels shooting up, I guess the mix and the environment was a lot more different compared to this workshop. Look at all the female participants there!

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 03 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1Louis, listening intently to the participants as they introduced themselves

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 04 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1That’s Drew over there!

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 05 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1After the rounds of introduction, Joe shared with us some of his videos as well as showed some of his latest work which was absolutely incredible and amazing. What made me smile was that he also had a couple of photos in his portfolio which was shot using available light which was what I normally do. Joe then mentioned that he himself also continued to learn by attending workshops such as the recent one where he attended Jay Maisel’s workshop in NY.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 06 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 07 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1At every workshop which Joe teaches, he carries with him lots of gears. And when I mean lots, I really mean lots! Frankly I didn’t take the rest as there are way too many equipment about to capture it all. But what he had prepared for us included around 16 flashes for us to use, an array of Justin clamps and battery packs, Lastolite softboxes and many many more.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 08 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1I spy the Twin Towers in the LCD screen of Joe’s Nikon D3s

The workshop began with Joe showing us the various equipment that were about in the workshop and then teaching us on how to use them and what the effects of using these equipment would do to an image. After trying out several shots indoor using both a white and black background, we proceeded outdoors to learn more about light shaping tools there.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 09 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 10 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1We also had a journalist in our midst, Jan Shim, hailing from Brunei who was covering the workshop

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 13 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1Then we moved indoors for another shoot again. This time it was in a service corridor where Joe showed us how to use our surroundings to create an amazing shot. Of course Ian had to pose for the shot as he would normally do.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 14 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1Then we headed out again. Here we have Joe’s camera setup to tether on his MacBook Pro which was very helpful for us participants.

JoeMcNallyWorkshop blog 15 JoeMcnallys Hot Shoe Diaries Workshop   Part 1We even had fantastic props to use as backdrops and for our models to pose with. I wish!

After an intense session of learning how to use various light shaping tools as well as understand various light placements, the group adjourned for lunch.

More photos from the workshop as well as our own personal shoots coming soon!

Last weekend I was at The Curve and I decided to drop by Borders to check out a couple of books. Mr. Shaolintiger mentioned to me that Borders told him that they might have stock for this particular book I was looking for. Also, Kee Sitt did mention to me about Vincent Versace’s book on post processing called “Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop“. Initiatlly I tried searching for these two books at MPH and Times but there weren’t available and a special order or request needed to be completed.

joe My Experience with Borders and Kinokuniya

oz My Experience with Borders and Kinokuniya

Upon entering Borders, I headed straight to the “Arts” section and began searching for these two books. After a quick scan through two shelves, I just gave up and went to the information counter to ask for some assistance. A very friendly salesgirl was there, ready to serve customers, and she gave a warm smile asking me if she could assist me in anything. I gave her the name of the books which she was rather confused (I don’t blame her as the name of the books are long!).

Instead I decided to ask her search by Authors. Vincent Versace was not found in their database of Authors but they had one hit for Joe McNally. It was the book I was looking for, “The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world’s top shooters“. Happily, I went back to the shelves and found the only copy in the entire store and lo and behold, there was a huge tear at the back cover of the book. The tear was rather significant, one that if continued, would have taken the entire back cover off!The price of the book, RM200+.

I took the book and brought it back to the Information counter asking if there was a newer one as I showed the salesgirl the large torn section. She took the book, headed over to her manager and returned saying that since the book is new, there wasn’t any other stock and that the price would not change.  I was of course surprised and also not that entire shocked as it was a new book. I then politely declined saying that I wouldn’t want to buy a book that is already torn at a price which is way more than that you can find at Amazon.

After 10 minutes of browsing other books, the helpful salesgirl ran up to me saying that she had negotiated with her manager again and the manager had agreed to a whopping 5% discount. Yes, 5% discount! Wow, I must be rather stupid to pass an offer like that. Not! 5% for a book which is already overpriced and not in good condition? No way am I that stupid. This time I politely declined saying that I would rather ship the book from the US than to pay so much and get a torn version. End of story.

On Wednesday, I was at KLCC for lunch and decided to head over to Kinokuniya to try my luck on these two books. In less than 10 minutes, I found two whole piles of these two books in the Art section. Not only did they have ample stock, “The Moment It Clicks” was priced at RM186+ (compared to Borders’ RM200+) which was way cheaper. And to my other surprise, if I purchased Vincent Versace’s book (RM131+) at the same time, I get a 20% discount off “The Moment It Clicks“. Yes, that means I paid only RM150+ for “The Moment It Clicks” which is RM50 cheaper compared to what Borders was charging and it was in pristine condition.

Final score: Kinokuniya 1- Borders 0

Note: This has nothing to do with the staff or the service any of these bookstores offered but just a good comparison of their prices and their pricing policy for damaged books.

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