Our apologies…we’re really behind on the posts of my student workshop recaps, and we’re finally trying to catch up. You can expect more of these posts over the next few weeks!
I had the great pleasure of having two Canadians, Gareth Callaway and Jack Schachner, for a two-on-one workshop. They were both very funny, and kept me in stitches for three days! Although they are good friends, they differ in their sense of humor… The thing is, they both had me laughing with the email correspondence before the workshop, so I was actually worried how we would get work done with all of the impending hilarity! We managed.
I’m always curious to see what props are chosen by students, and in this case, both Gareth and Jack came up with some interesting but very different compositions.
Jack decided to photograph a still life with garlic, one of my favorite subjects. Garlic is one of those things that, when lit in a certain way, is just beautiful.
Photograph by workshop student Jack Schachner
As is often the case, I learn from my students, and when Jack suggested back-lighting the peeled skin of the garlic, I mistakenly thought (and suggested) that it wouldn’t work. He insisted on trying it, and it worked quite well! To borrow from my friend John Tebbetts, “Grasshopper teaches Master”. Although I do use backlighting often, I’m very careful with it, as backlighting can counter the effect of well placed “normal” lighting. In other words, the light coming through from behind literally fills in shadows which render shape and texture, thereby flattening the lighting. In this case, Jack was spot on, and I was, well… not.
Gareth put together a very cool vintage still life, which has a great color scheme. I love the old Thermos bottle (given to me by Vera’s father), and the antique box that was brought to the studio by my friend and co-instructor, John Corcoran (John has been light painting for over 20 years, and shoots flowers and portraits seen HERE).
Gareth learned how raking (or skimming) the light can bring out tremendous detail on “flat” surfaces, like the faces of the toy wooden blocks. When lit with this technique, detail is revealed which we don’t normally see. It always surprises me.
Photograph by workshop student Gareth Callaway
To see more student images from my workshops, click HERE.
We hope everyone has a very nice Thanksgiving!
