Zack Arias on CreativeLive

First of all. I must really check my twitter more regularly! One of my favourite photographers: Zack Arias @zarias whom I have learnt so much from via his blog and his OneLight DVD Workshop hosted a 3 Day Online Course on CreativeLive over the weekend! And because I did not check my twitter and possibly because I was sleeping under a rock, I didn't know this online course was on, until the last day! Gutted! However, I was grateful that I was able to get at least one day out of it.

Well, the course started here in Australia at 3am so that was a huge ask from me as I LOVE my sleep but what was good was the fact the stream would also be played at 2pm till about 9. So I was able to watch this. I was unlucky to realise prizes were being given away on the intial stream at 3am, could have won something. Oh well, you cant lose something you never had.

Anyway, back to the workshop. From what I saw, day 3, I learnt so much! From different lighting setups to directing the models and also getting ideas on backdrops. I absolutely love the backdrop made by Zacks' wife, Meghan Arias @meghanarias. It was a made wall covered in aged looking music sheets: link here, I must say it was very creative and it suited the band in the photos very well. I saw another twitpic that was submitted showing her sore inked up hands: link here. Blood, sweat and tears have gone into this whole project and I would like to thank the whole CreativeLive team aswell as Zack and his crew for a smooth running and very informative workshop. The fact that it was free just made it that more amazing!

Another very informative section that I found very useful was when Zack described different light modifiers, how they are implemented and described the lighting effect it had on the subject. I found this so interesting! I am now also keen on looking for a good quality 60" umbrella. Zack constantly stated that if there was one modifier he needed for most applications was his 60" umbrella, he said that it helped progress him to where he is today, now he has heaps of modifiers. One thing about that is, the more modifiers you have, the more time you think about what to use. Keep it simple, stick to instruments you know, then when you can afford to experiment, go for it.

Zack's advice and guidance throughout the workshop has definately brought so much more insight into my photographic practices. Im hoping to implement what I have learnt very soon.

So once again, thanks to Zack and his team and CreativeLive for this opportunity to learn from such a talented and inspiring photographer. I hope for more amazing workshops in the future.