Nice Photo Magazine shreds through the cult of Strobist sycophant pablum to reveal the truth about just what goes on at a Strobist workshop!

Last Saturday at the LA Strobist workshop I went undercover as David Hobby’s “assistant” (the guy who signed everyone in at the door). A few weeks ago when David asked me if I would help out he had no idea what kind of tornado he was about to stir up. How could he? I’m a diabolical genius and a master of disguise!

Let me back up.

If you don’t know what Strobist is, call AAA and get a tow truck to remove the rock you’re living under. Then head over to www.strobist.com. The way you look at light will never be the same. I attribute a huge amount of my photographic success to the skills and inspiration handed out for free at Strobist. Is that likely to sway my stinging expose of David’s in person workshop? No, because I’m a cynical bastard. What about the fact that he is one of the nicest, most generous, least self absorbed people I’ve ever met – and I live in Hollywood, so that’s saying something! No, even that won’t save him from my truth seeking missile, uh, typing finger things.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s begin.

Put 50 photographers in a room, each armed with a camera, a battery powered strobe, and the hunger to get better. Then drop David Hobby in front of them for eight-plus hours and what happens? Time warp, that’s what. A full workday worth of time zips by like it’s 15 minutes of concentrated wow. Does that even make sense what I just wrote? It does if you were there.

David started the day by having everyone introduce themselves. It was a very varied crowd. A person who just started taking photographs two weeks ago was sitting next to a successful 10 year veteran in the architecture photo trade. Yet somehow David kept everyone engaged. I think it may be because he was offering the concepts behind the techniques rather than just the techniques themselves.

At the first bathroom break Mr. Strobist welcomed everyone to rifle through his bags of yummy photo gear; stands, strobes, light modifiers (some of which have yet to be released), and his one true love, the Canon 1ds MIII. Kidding. Kidding. He’s a Nikon shooter and for some reason not ashamed to tell you.

The morning was all about the Strobist doctrine. But he always keeps the mood light, sharing stories from his travels and never missing the opportunity to crack a joke. Except for the fur-lined cape, top hat, and monocle which he refused to take off, he kept the drama nice and low with his attitude elevated – his only sign of stress being the constant fiddling with his handlebar mustache.

David had a structured power point presentation, but never let it get in the way of the flow, answering the many questions as they came. His dominate theme? I’d have to say it was: “This lighting stuff isn’t hard.” He didn’t just say it. He proved it.

We broke for lunch and then the afternoon brought the meat in: shooting examples to show off the ideas he talked about in the morning. In between set ups he projected the results and talked about his thought process: why the images he liked worked, and what he didn’t like about the ones that didn’t.

It ended with a Q&A and friendly, “after the show” chat along with secret info about secret cool products coming out for the Strobist crowd over the next few secret months. Then it was out to the hotel bar where the smiling faces of photographers soaked in alcohol and ideas talked about photo and non photo topics well into the night. David, who should have been suffering from serious jet lag, but is clearly a sophisticated robot, hung out the whole time with a smile on his face. He even stopped twisting that handlebar mustache.

David talked plenty about photography, but also about his attitude on life; making an effort to err on the side of good, to be generous, to try and make friends out of would be enemies, how the most important thing in the world to him was to get to spend time with his family. He wasn’t preaching, just sharing stories. I don’t think a single person out of 50 left that class disappointed, myself included.

Okay, so maybe I drank a big ol’ glass of Strobist Kool-Aid. Or maybe, just maybe when someone with skill and passion shares his ideas openly with the goal of enriching the entire community, the entire community gets enriched. I think maybe I grew up a little bit on Saturday and I learned a lot more than just lighting. Thanks David.

Nice!

Now Shipping: Chase Jarvis Portrait Sessions - Inspiration from a Master of Photography
Strobist Lighting Diagrams Photo Tips & Tricks Vol. 1

| Del.icio.us | Technorati | Stumble it! | Digg