Today I gave my first official lighting lesson and unsurprisingly learned a lot from teaching! It was good to see an appreciation and a need for information that I almost take for granted because it’s become second nature to me.
Light is ALMOST the most important tool in portraiture or any form of people photography; after all, it is the medium with which we ‘paint’… topped only by a good connection and relationship with your subject… however, it’s important to learn and master light so one can concentrate on what really matters, the subject. Nothing breaks the flow of a shoot quicker than fumbling with gear and lighting.
I’m in the process of developing a series of workshops, probably to begin early next year and needed to do some trial run teaching. So, in my November promos, I gave away a 4 hour lighting lesson, as well as a 4 hour retouch lesson (won, but not yet given) in order to help a couple photographers and get a feel for teaching.
Today went really well; time will tell, but I’m pretty sure I had a positive impact… we ran through various lighting setups, talked about how light interacts with the subject, discussed different lighting styles for different subjects and even tried some things ‘wrong’ on purpose.
I really didn’t shoot much, but when Nicole is ‘in the house’ it’s hard to leave the camera just lay there!
Thanks again ladies for a great day! 
Stay Creative!
Aaron
PS Thanks for solving the ‘giant horse’ issue Casi! 
