Way back here, I sang the praises of Zack Arias and his OneLight Workshop, and I stated that I would remember the things he taught me for a long time to come.
A couple of the things Zack did teach me came into play here.
1. Know your gear.
2. Know your gear.
3. Know your gear.
You get my point?
I had ten minutes with Charlie Simpson tonight and I wanted to nail a couple of different setups. The first was a standard head/shoulders portrait. Start small, build confidence in yourself and your client (another lesson of Zacks). I then had an idea which I was hoping Charlie would go for, which would portray his journey into the unknown so to speak, as a solo artist.
In my head, I knew I was going to shoot it all for convenience upstairs in Academy 2 as I’d checked the door times and we had a good hour before the crowds came in. As I walked to the venue though, that all went to shit as the crowds were already on their way in.
Backup plan time – use the bigger Academy 1 downstairs? Yeah why not.
Charlie came out, (nice guy), and THIS is the point at which you need to know your gear. “What modifier do I need here to get the result I can see in my head”?
Nowehere for a particularly ‘clean’ headshot, but that wasn’t what I was after anyway. Beauty dish up and in close, cut ambient light in camera to a decent amount and boom – that beauty dish is an AMAZING source of light. Showed it to Charlie – big grins !
For anybody who cares about this kind of thing – THIS is the situation you want to be in. You’ve just taken a couple of frames that are right on the money with minimal fuss. Client is happy, your happy, everyone is happy. Now is the time to pitch idea number 2 to the client.
“Charlie – how do you feel about getting up on that stage and sitting down in a chair. I’ll just stroll around a bit, shoot from a few different angles and we’re done”.
“Yeah, sure – sounds great!”.
GOOD times 
Dropped the beauty dish off at this stage and got out the Honl Grid – went real high and cut ambient completely. Instant, dramatic portraits.
Job done.
Thinking back, I can’t actually believe how flawlessley this shoot went. But it comes down to that one thing again about preperation, and having confidence in your gear. So I say thankyou (AGAIN) to Zack. If he is ever coming to your town, please go on his workshop. Or just go and say hi at a mixer. It’s the best decision you’ll ever make
NB: Charlie NAILED the gig afterwards in Academy 2, review with my photos are here. Charlie also has a new album ‘Parachutes’ out next month and I would fully recommend checking it out
Hi, I'm John Burrows.
I'm a North-East based photographer and I am available for portrait shoots, concert photography, editorially commisoned work and 'on-demand' landscape work.
