photo assistant   photo assistant

Studio Lighting Workshop

Our Studio Lighting Workshop was created as the next chapter following our Photo Assistant Boot Camp.

This Studio Lighting Workshop is a 2 day hands-on event that focuses on lighting designs and setups that are not covered in our Photo Assistant Boot Camp. We will also introduce you to new or additional types of: lighting, Light modifiers and grip configurations not presented in the PABC.

The focus of this workshop will be on the Main or Front light and how through subtle or controlled manipulations you can change the dynamics of the lights quality and the over all look of your subject in: portrait, Fashion and Beauty lighting setups.

We produce this Boot Camp ourselves and we present as many different studio and strobe manufacturers equipment as they chose to make available to us. Our proven method of teaching old-school photo knowledge, on set skills mean you are better prepared for working in real world studio situations.

Our workshops have trained people from the following studios:
Christopher Michaud, Gregory Heisler, Russell James, Timothy Hogan, Michael Thompson, Annie Leibovitz, Sand Box Studio, Industrial Color, FotoCare rental, American Express publishing, QVC, Publishers clearing house, Conde' Nast studio, Scheimpflug digital.

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  • Class size limited to 16 People
    so you get the most hands on time and attention learning on set.
  • A copy of our Lighting diagrams APP Vol.1.
    An interactive CD of select lighting diagrams that we present during our workshops. Includes full lighting schematics, equipment used and technical details.
  • A potion of the topics covered include:

        Flash Meters
        Color Temperature meters
        Flags, Nets
        Chimera Light Boxes
        Mola's
        ProFoto Light modifiers.
        Studio Strobes
        KinoFlo
        HMI
        Tungsten lights (ARRI)
        Mixed lighting set ups

  Studio Lighting Workshop:  What's it all about?

Hands on, because there is no better way to learn photography.
This workshop is for both photo assistants as well as those photographers looking to improve their studio lighting skills.
The lighting setups that I present in this workshop are based upon the exact lighting setups or variations on those that that I was hired to create for those famous and in-famous photographers I worked with during my days as a Photo Assistant and Lighting Tech.

When I first started working in the commercial photo industry as a photo assistant I had the privilege of working with some amazing old school photographers as well as many of the famous NYC. photographers whose images we have all admired for years.
In the past most photographers did their own lighting and had exceptional photographic skills both of which they were willing to pass along to those photo assistants willing to put in the time and effort to make themselves a valuable member of the photo team. That changed during the early to mid-90's when a new crop of photographers were better known for their outstanding Art Direction skills, and came to rely on ther photo assistants for all on-set production and lighting skills.

We've all attended those photo workshops or events were you walk into a room and are greeted with row upon row of folding chairs. This is hardly the most appropriate way to teach photography of any sort. It makes very little sense to teach lighting or photography in an environment that is in no way connected to the realities of the "Commercial Photo experience".

For that reason I have for the last 12 years have been presenting our Photo Assistant Boot Camp, and Studio Lighting Workshops in many of the real NYC. photo rental studios of all descriptions, shapes, and sizes that I have personally been working in during my 20+ years in NYC. From huge 6000 sqft. spaces with 20 foot ceilings to 1200 sqft. photographers lofts in mid town Manhattan. Because there is no constant or standard that any photographer or assistant should expect to find. As a professional it is our job to be adaptable to any working environment or situation and be the best possible and most skilled individual on the photographic team in order to create the best possible images.

At our Studio Lighting Workshop I attempt to create as close to a real world shooting environment as possible that is also interlaced with the learning experience. Within the first hour you will be handling pro-studio lighting equipment and setting up lighting scenarios. At the same time you will be introduced to the equipment that is being used across the country in pro rental studios and high-end commercial shoots.

Were other similar events will have you listening to sales reps talk about a manufactures equipment, with use you will be learning and using those studio lights almost immediately.

I created these workshops because there are few old school photographers or experienced photo assistants around any more to teach the basics so we have taken it upon ourselves to do so. I have also seen first hand that the photo schools simply are not teaching the skills needed to work in the real world of commercial photography.

And because I had the great fortune to have worked with and learned form some of the most knowledgeable people in the photo industry, I feel that it is incumbent upon me to pass that knowledge along to others for as long as it remains useful.

While I would hope that everyone would attend our workshops, which have helped produce some of the finest photo crew members working today; I can not stress enough the importance of educating yourself by attending as many professional photography workshops as you possibly can.

"There is no one right way of doing things" in photography (and anyone that says other wise clearly does not have a clue) and the tricks and tips that you will learn at my or others workshops will in time prove to be invaluable.

James Sullivan 2013