Portrait lighting workshop in Marblehead
I’ve watched so many lighting workshops online and they tend to be very similar - the photographer takes pictures of a young model while rapidly fiddleing with camera and light settings and making up some resons for moving lights around.
I wanted to teach lighting in a different way. So I designed a workshop that just works better.
I didn’t want people to watch me then forget what they saw the next day. Instead I designed a class where after a section of demonstration and context, the participants spent time lighting eachother’s faces! They didn’t watch how to light; they felt how to light. They saw shadows move across their friends faces and made interpretations on where the light worked best, where shadows needed to be without creating distractions.
But participation wasn’t the only improvelment to portrait workshops that needed to be made. The other was context.
Portrait lighting patterns weren’t invented by YouTubers, or even by photographers. We can find foundational wisdom in the notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci who tells us preciecly how to light a face to flatter the sitter. Then there is the prolific work of Rembrandt who pushed lighting further in the persuit of drama. Some thought too far! These two renaisance masters cover the gammut of everything we know about portrait lighting. They told us how each lighting pattern can be used to provoke a different emotion, a different story.
We looked at examples from art, from photography and from the movies. Learning about lighting patterns isn’t just about making images, but it allows us to appreciate and interpret the images of others.
It is spectacular. And putting it all together formed a workshop that is like no other. Something for everyone.
We had a cosy group of people in the lower room of the Marblehead Association of Arts, who hosted the event. We had photographers, painters and those who were there out of curiosity and they all added to the conversation. They all left with smiles on their faces because of the new light we shed on, well, light.
Check out these reviews:
“What a fantastic workshop last night! We want to have you back again! “
“Although I am not a portrait photographer, I found the workshop very worthwhile.”
“Your presentation was engaging and clearly well-informed“
I hope to teach the workshop again soon, perhaps in other towns or for other organisations. Get in touch if you think you’d like to be a part of it!
