To shoot it, I used a tripod with the camera, dark-colored curtains as a backdrop, and a single off-camera flash blasting full power into a black reflective umbrella (a shoot-thru would’ve spilled too much light all over the small room). Aperture was set to somewhere between F/14-F/22, ISO 200, and the exposure was about 8 seconds long, giving each model plenty of time to doodle nonsense with keychain LED lights. Lastly, I tethered the camera to my laptop so everyone was able to see the shot right away. Great job guys, check them out!

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and here are some of my favs…

Here are some snaps from the session which took place at the Random Art Workshop space in Causeway Bay.

Earlier in the week, I took Joseph around for some HK grub. If you’ve ever followed his twitter or photo blog before, you’d find that the man has an iron stomach. I gave him the choice between clean, air-conditioned dim sum (Luk Yu Tea House) or grimy, chaotic dim sum (Lin Heung Tea House), and he immediately opted for the latter. A few dishes of chicken feet and cow tripe later, we walked off the meal with some ad hoc shooting around Sheung Wan. Here is a shot from another photowalk that weekend in Sham Shui Po, organized by another HK photographer.

I follow so many international photographers for inspiration, but rarely do I actually pinpoint a single image that directly influences one of my own shots. But this was definitely true with the below shot I took at Saosin’s concert earlier this year which I realized HAD TO have somehow been influenced by Joseph’s work touring with Seal (see his awesome concert shot here). I was happy to be able to let the original artist know that his work had inspired me.

February 5th marked the very first Photo Lab session (original blog post here) at the Random Art Workshop in Causeway Bay. The goal of the meetup was for photographers of all levels to share our work and ideas, get feedback and learn.

Thanks to everyone for sharing some really cool images (not easy to put work out there, I know!) and really interesting insight and feedback. And of course thank you to Joyce Yung for providing a great venue and grabbing this snapshot.

In the session we discussed how to:
- shoot from inside shade with very bright outside sunlight
- choose focus depth of field in different situations
- frame different landscapes? When to shoot wide versus focusing on details
- maximize background motion blur, use ‘panning’
- capture sun rays peeking out of clouds

We also debated the pros and cons of shooting:
- landscape vs. portrait orientation
- dead on straight (Joe made an awesome reference to Andreas Gursky’s style) vs. at an angle
- with post-processing vs. out of camera
- simply! Sometimes it’s best to just focus on one simple subject.

Next session’s theme will be “Food and Family” – however you want to interpret it. All are welcome to follow the theme, or share any other photos of your choice.

Date: Mar 2nd Tues 7:30-9:30PM
RSVP: info@randomartworkshop.com
(open to those who have taken a photography class or any other RAW class before)

Well considered to be a master of lighting and environmental portraiture, Joe is a bit of a superhero of mine in the world of photography. Last year when The Hot Shoe Diaries book came out, I had my sister in NY help me smuggle a copy before it was available for sale here in HK.

Aside from learning buttons and dials, flash compensation and iTTL during the workshop, I was probably most impressed by Joe’s ability to bring thirty-something years of shooting experience yet still maintain an almost child-like sense of humor and enthusiasm. His approach to portraiture was methodic yet carefree, almost Brett Favre-like. It was just incredibly fun to watch and learn from.

As an added bonus of the workshop, I had a chance to shoot with other photographers from across the region. Wedding, landscape, journalism and corporate shooters and hobbyists took the day out to hone their craft. All the credit in the world goes to esteemed wedding photographer Louis Pang and his webshooter.tv team to put together an awesome experience. It was fun meeting y’all!

Here are a few other blog entries going over the day:
Joe McNally’s blog
Louis Pang’s blog (has a nice capture of me getting my learn on)
Qippy’s blog
Anna’s blog

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Below is my favorite shot from the workshop with the lovely Evon Tan. I thought the black veil was a pretty cool thing to play with, and my mind started to wander into 1980′s-Madonna-Like-A-Prayer-land, and this is what we got.

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playing with light is way too fun.

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Joe and I nyan nyan~ at the end of the workshop =(

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a nice WTF shot on seamless grey! thx for grabbing this one Louis!

Tonight we wrapped up our fifth beginner’s photography class, Digital Photography Essentials at RAW in Causeway Bay. Nikon, Canon, Ricoh and Olympus shooters were all present and eager to learn. Thank you to Florence, Alan, Jackie, Maurice, Tim and Anne for coming out and staying a little later to watch my boring post-processing workflow!

As a note to all Digital Photography Essentials class alumn, you are invited to the first of what will be monthly RAW Photo Lab sessions at RAW. This is open only to those who have taken a photography class/trip or other RAW classes and workshops. It’ll be a great way to continually practice photo taking skills and to have a platform to share your work, get feedback and ideas under a very friendly environment! The session will be informal and very interactive where everyone can share their photos (or stories behind the photos) and learn from each other. Discussion will be lead by myself and photographer Joyce Yung, and the plan will be to just relax and mingle.

Please RSVP (send an email to: info@randomartworkshop.com) by Jan 28th for the first session on Friday, February 5th. Beer, soft drinks, and snacks will be provided! Sweet!

Last night was the first Digital Photography Essentials workshop at the Random Art Workshop in Causeway Bay. Big thanks to Kelly, Jacinta, Karen and Tosh for coming to class armed with some good questions and plenty of energy on a Friday after work. It was great to see a wide range of skills amongst students, and it nearly brought a tear to my eye to see a small family of Nikons spread out across the table (D60, D5000, D90, D200, D700)!!!