For this workshop, we were fortunate in having the run of a large studio, courteously allowed us by Zack Arias of the One Light Work Workshop fame. The workshop was the regular combination of lecture, demonstration, and hands-on practice for the attendees.
Here I am (in crumpled shirt), explaining the histogram display to Stacey …
As reported by Karen:
“Thanks to all the participants who made our Austin, TX seminar with Neil van Niekerk and Walter van Dusen a success! We really enjoyed our time in Austin and are looking forward to coming back with other events!”
We’ve had some great feedback from the workshop:
I wanted to thank you all for an awesome seminar, it exceeded my expectations 100 fold and I really enjoyed it. The extra time you took to answer my questions and cover the topics is really appreciated. Anytime you come guys come to Austin let me know, I’d love to provide hospitality and return the value. Cutting out of work for the day was so worth it, the day was an incredible value and mentoring.
- Eric Glover
Joriana was one of the attendees at the recent workshop on flash photography that was held in Strerling, VA - and she was gracious enough to stand in as a model for us during the practical parts of the workshop. The workshop appears to have been a success judging by some of the response I’ve had after the workshop:
“It was great to meet you yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. I learned so much - I could have had an extra half day. I especially enjoyed towards the end of the session with the special lighting and effects. “
“Thank you for an AWESOME workshop! You are so patient and explain things so well. I will practice what I learned and hopefully improve my photography dramatically!”
Thank you to everyone who attended, and thank you to Mindy and Joriana Belcher for helping to arrange all of this.
It is always nice to get good response after presenting a workshop or seminar, and know that it went well - but it is very gratifying to receive a note afterwards that the info presented at a seminar had a very real impact on a photographer’s work. So it was a real feel-good moment this morning when I received this from someone who attended the Minneapolis seminar on wedding photography:
Neil, I attended your workshop in MN and shot a mostly outdoor wedding this weekend (May 19) where the sun was strong, then cloudy. I applied your flash techniques and have to say that without taking your workshop I would NOT, repeat NOT, have obtained the results that I achieved ….. the flash blended seamlessly, and had a 95% success ratio of keepers. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Looking forward to your Virginia workshop. — Roger Shoemaker.
Thank you to everyone who attended the seminar and help make it a success. Thank you to my co-presenter, Walter van Dusen. And thank you to Karen who hosted the event.
As reported by Karen:
“A huge thanks to all the folks who made the Philadelphia seminar such a huge success. From the initial GTG on the Sunday night before, to the seminar itself on Monday, April 23rd, and a truly touristy trip up the Philadelpia Art Museum steps - it was a fantastic time. Thanks to everyone who participated!”
I presented two workshops on flash photography last week in Watertown, MA (which is right next to Boston), on Tue 2/27 and Wed 2/28. They were on the lines of the tutorials on my website dealing with how I use flash with wedding photography.
The response when I initially announced the workshop was very good. So good that I had to add a second workshop on the next day. The choice of venue - St John’s in Watertown - was a fortunate choice in that we had access to the sanctuary. This was good to help the group figure out flash photography techniques in what is one of the toughest places for a wedding photographer - in the church itself.
Here are two images (taken by John Hartnett) during the workshop:
At the start of 2006, a group of 28 photographers from the DWF came together in Mystic, CT, to network. A few of us also did presentations on various topics in photography. It was a great success and showed the need and desire for such a meeting.
This year, Walter van Dusen once again arranged the seminar and get-together in Mystic .. and there were 68 photographers who attended. I was one of the 8 presenters, who included noted photographers such as Claudia Kronenberg, Dan Doke and Michael Cody.
I once again held a presentation on techniques to improve on-camera flash.
(Incidentally, those webpages are a result of last year’s presentation.)
And here I am .. in action.
And Jeannie, if it looks like I’ve been travelling, it *is* because I’ve been travelling.
Thank you to everyone who was there and made it a great day of learning and socialising. See you all there again in 2008.
Gavin Seim is the host of a weekly podcast on various photography topics - The Pro Photography Show - and for his show last week (episode #9) he had kindly invited me as the guest host. The topics mostly centered around the webpages on the PlanetNeil website where I explain various techniques to improve flash photography. Gavin, thanks! It was an interesting experience. 
I was very excited when Jeff Caplan of the Digital Wedding Forum notified me that my proposal to present a seminar at the 2006 DWF Convention in Las Vegas, was accepted. The topic that my friend and co-conspirator, David Mielcarek and I had decided on, was to be called Fearlessly Formal. The intention with this seminar was to present techniques to the newer photographers on how to sequence the family formals session on the wedding day, and how to use lighting during the formals session.
Preparation for this seminar started slowly last year, and picked up roller-coaster speed as the date approached - Monday morning, April 10th, at 8:30am. Weeks and weeks of actual work had gone into the preparation and fine-tuning of the seminar … and then it was actually time to do it.
The DWF Convention was held this year from Sunday April 9th, to Wednesday 12th in Las Vegas - and it tied in with the WPPI Convention and trade show that was held across the road at Bally’s. It was wonderful to meet up with so many friends and acquaintances I had made over the years on the Digital Wedding Forum.
The seminar itself went very well - with one exception.
There were sound problems, which meant that the presentation was delayed by 30 minutes while the hotel technicians rigged a temporary sound system. Also, a thank you to whoever helped sort out the feedback problem with my clip-on mic. :^)
Other than that, I believe the seminar went very well. I got tremendous feedback afterwards from dozens and dozens of people. An indicator of the success of this seminar, was that there must have been 200+ people attending - some lined up against the wall at the back of the auditorium - no seats avaialble. Wow! Thank you everyone who attended. It was wonderful to be a part of something so big.
You also need to keep in mind that any presenter is competing with the lure of friends, other hugely talented photographers, the WPPI trade show, and of course … Las Vegas is just outside the room. In the evenings I roamed the Vegas Strip with other photographer friends.
Here is a gallery of images of (mostly) night-time Las Vegas.
Richard Kizirian, a Rhode Island based photographer, was kind enough to go to the trouble of helping me arrange a mini-seminar in a studio up in Rhode Island, for Sunday Feb 19th. The topic was again the use of on and off camera flash techniques. Thirteen photographers booked a spot, and in the alloted time of four hours, I tried to cram in as much as I could. It was still based on my online tutorial webpages, but I extended it with a hands-on session where we tried out some of the techniques.
photo courtesy of Eric Turner.
(Myself, Michelle Turner, Hersul, and part of Richard K.)
It really felt good to me at the points where I could see the the reaction in someone - when an idea which had been unclear up until then, suddenly became clear. I loved seeing that. And I know from the reaction there that I received from the others and in subsequent emails, that it had been worth the while for everyone.
Here is part of the one email I received, which felt really good to see as feedback afterwards:
“I want to thank you for your well thought out seminar last week - very much! Your laid back approach to your style of lighting very much de-mystifies the concept of using flash effectively. You stated this not with words but by example. I think the benefit of leading by example is that you offer people an opportunity to make meaning of what they are leaning in a way that works for them, not what works for you. I feel you did this exceptionally well.”
So thank you to everyone who was there, and a special thanks to Richard Kirizian for going to all the effort of arranging the venue, and coming up with the suggestion of doing this in the first place.