San Francisco Workshop.....the results!

So, last Thursday, I went to an all-day workshop by Nate Kaiser and Susan Stripling. IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY! For about a year now, I've constantly followed his blog and I've really been inspired by his awesome, consistent, amazing work. So, when I heard he was gonna do the workshop thing, I signed up right away. I took a little checklist of specific questions/techniques I had for him and he either answered them through some of the exercises we did, or he answered them personally. It was a great learning experience and I was very satisfied with the workshop. To my surprise, most of his techniques, tips, tricks, were rather simple. But they made sense and thats what counts. It was really cool meeting Susan, her work is also beautiful. I really learned what it takes to kick-butt in the business from her, she's obviously very determined and ambitious. All in all, I think I learned a whole bunch from both photographers!

Well, we planned on staying in San Fran for the weekend along with our good friends Erika and Mario. I kept trying out some of the lighting techniques i learned at the workshop with everybody throughout the trip, I think i did ok.........

Here's the guru himself........Nate Keiser....

....this is Nate using the "force" to help Ed pose.....actually, the idea here is to use ANY kind of light to make a cool photo. He's demonstrating that here.

....this is Stacey. We had about 1/2 hour to shoot and practice some of the techniques we were learning.....basically, making use of bad lighting conditions (3:00pm) and "using" that light to our advantage. Here, i blocked the intense sunlight with a utility unit and had her stand in the glowing part of the shade....

....here i decided to use the actual sun as part of the composition.....

.....wedding photographers dont have to dread the harsh light of mid-day!.....

.....i was REALLY curious about Nate's techniques for his cool daytime "dark" portraits....it was cool to finally start figuring it out....

.....this is my favorite shot of Stacey, it almost looks fake! Thanks Stacey for being a great model!

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So, for the next couple of days, as we hung out in the city and in the wineries, I tried out my new found skills with Dina, Mario & Erika....

First, here's Mario in deep thought......i added in a little bit of texture.....