How do I describe spending five days learning from Joe McNally? Non-photographers might not know Joe. Within photog ranks, though, he’s something of a legend. Joe has influenced my shooting – a lot.
I knew this would be a fabulous week, but I didn’t know exactly what to expect. The setting was the beautiful Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain resort. The beach, the Jade Mountain rooms with their infinity pools, the jungle, and a nearby fire house all served as our backdrops.
How do you light a model in these varied situations? How do you make a compelling photo? One that truly pulls in the viewer? Joe understands this in his gut. Let me tell you, having him review your shots, discuss them openly with a great group of photographers, is more than worth the price of admission. Joe sees things we mere mortal shooters don’t. In the end, it’s discovering how a good photo can become a great one.
Joe uses the term speaking with light. It’s really the essence of photography. At the start of the week, Joe asked what we wanted from the workshop. My response was, I want to get inside your head. Joe laughed, but he knew what I meant and it became sort of the theme of the week. A few years ago, I spent some time with Joe at another – much larger – workshop. I walked away from that experience dazed with my head spinning. It changed my view of making photographs. I’ve tried to work out what it was exactly. How do I put into words the effect the experience had. The best I can do is this. I used to think flash (and artificial light, in general) was something you used to dig yourself out of a hole of low light. I now understand it is an important tool to help shape a photograph, and it works very often in concert with existing light. Speaking with light.
This workshop built on my earlier encounter with Joe and my other studying of Joe’s work, books, and tutorials. With an intimate group, we could explore the inside of Joe’s head!
Each day, we had a shoot, and every shoot brought widely varied conditions. We shot on the beach in late afternoon. We shot in beautiful Jade Mountain rooms. We shot mountain bikers in the jungle. We shot in a local fire station. Joe’s focus was on lighting, but it didn’t mean we ignored beautiful natural light. He’s become known for his use of flashes to light a scene. What you learn is how he approaches a situation, decides what light exists, what needs to be added to achieve a photograph that draws in the viewer and tells the story. It’s putting together a puzzle one piece area time. And always with the subject and main light in mind.
I loved watching Joe’s interactions with those around him. Very gracious. Gracious with the models, with the resort staff, with Cali, his assistant. He was open to every question, even my rather esoteric queries like, “what are you thinking now?” And he spent time with us discussing the business and his journey within it.
Joe’s guest instructor was RC Concepcion. I met RC at a workshop in Yosemite. Since then, we’ve kept somewhat in touch, and I’ve run into him a few other times. It was great to see him again (and finally meet his wife, Jenn – a dancer and subject of several Joe McNally photos!). RC is a very good teacher and always exploring new things. And he excels in each of them, probably because he throws himself into them with such abandon. Then he beams like a kid as he explains how to do what he did.
RC took us through his HDR workflow and thought process. He has a definite style. He has some awesome photos of the Jade Mountain resort that truly do the place justice. HDR works really well for architectural photography like that, and I’ve dabbled in it a bit. But my attempts at landscape HDR have never gone quite where I wanted. I feel a lot more comfortable with it now thanks to RC.
He also happened to bring along a quadcopter with a GoPro Hero attached to do some video work. The bugger was an endless source of amusement. I think the on-board GPS and the jungle didn’t always get along. And he was often flying the thing fast to catch some action, followed by the sound of propellers cutting through leaves then crash! into a tree.
While we were shooting mountain bikers, RC was flying his toy just ahead of them shooting video of them advancing. It was crazy, fun, and kind of inspiring. During one of our breaks, he shot a whole little story using Cali as his model. The final clip was from the quadcopter and looked like a huge boom shot as it backed away from one of the Jade Mountain pools. Sort of a, Wow! Then he showed us how to assemble the shots pretty easily inside Photoshop CS6 itself. Pretty cool. I use Sony Vegas Pro, so probably would do my editing there, but it’s still nice to have options. And some of the Photoshop tools and filters don’t have good analogs in Vegas.
The jungle was a cool setting (cool, but hot and humid, too!). An old abandoned plantation provided some interesting backgrounds for our models and for some HDR photos.
On the last evening, Joe creates a beach setting using flambeaus set in the sand around the cabanas. Then we wait for the light of the sunset to match the setting and set the mood. While we waited, Joe shot Claudette, the woman holding the coconut in my photo above (ask me about that coconut some time) standing in the surf.
It provided a nice opportunity to shoot Joe in action. I figure it can also be a good shot for Cali to show off – that’s him holding the pole and umbrella. RC is in the background shooting video as he often did.
Then it was time for the flambeau shots. Nothing too simple, though. What we soon had was a tropical island downpour. Thank goodness for cameras that can take a bit of rain! And for models who took it in stride.
They were all fantastic, too. The folks on the island are generally very personable and kind. The staff really pay attention to who you are (and your room number). Lynne and I left our room key at reception since we were often apart – me at the workshop, her wherever – and they would pull out my key for me as I approached the desk, before saying a word.
The resort, Anse Chastanet, is sort of collocated with the resort, Jade Mountain. The latter is way up the hill, an amazing architectural wonder with gorgeous rooms that I suspect some folks never leave even with the ocean so near. Anse Chastanet consists of rooms at the beach level and many more up that hill toward Jade Mountain. We climbed and descended many, many steps during the week. But our room, high on the hill, was spectacular with a view of the Pitons as well as the ocean. This isn’t Hilton. Our room was essentially open to the jungle. We had ceiling fans and mosquito netting around the king bed. From the shower, you could look out to the ocean. It provided an experience of being on a tropical island, being surrounded by jungle and beautiful scenery. Not living in a white cave that could be anywhere in the world, like thousands of other rooms. So much truer, so much more likely to remain in my memories.
I still need to reflect on the week, on the workshop, on what Joe did and said. On how RC approached some workflow issues we all have. On the insights I gathered from Cali, a terrific photographer himself. It will take some time to really absorb it all.
Was it worth the cost? Would I recommend others spend a week with Joe McNally? Without hesitation. I will never be following Joe’s path and likely not shooting in the same environment. But it is all storytelling, it’s all speaking with light. And I’ve already recognized a relationship to my theatre shooting I never would have guessed was there. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Cali. Thank you, RC. Till we meet again!
