The past two days, we kicked off our J&M Lighting Intensives with a bang (in a flash? they have a really bright future? hmmm...) with two absolutely INCREDIBLE groups in Richmond & Charlotte that made me understand why people fall in love with the South. Both nights we didn't wrap up until well into the night, so my brain is feeling a little empty right now. But my heart is so, so full.
We've been getting some questions as to what, exactly,The J&M Lighting Intensives look like. So we thought we'd use these first two stops to give you a behind the scenes pass. Here we go!
We kick everything off with a little mix & mingle as people arrive into the room, which we have brought a few personal touches from home to make it feel a little more cozy.
We pass out the champagne...
....and we get this party started, while everyone gets to know each other. There's a little Keith Urban playing in the background.
In Charlotte, Justin was the only guy in the room. Lucky for him, he knows how to charm the ladies.
While everyone is getting to know each other, we bust out a little photo booth action. It gets a little crazy.
I like to do the Kid N' Play pose.
A LOT.
HUGE thanks to Sharon Whited who grabbed this great portrait of us.....and then one of how we REALLY are.
There aren't enough "thank you's" in the world to give out to Alicia White & Ashley Barnett who were our hosts, coordinators, and all around miracle workers in Charlotte & Richmond respectively. Simply put, the Lighting Intensives wouldn't have happened without them. And I love them both to the moon and back.
Once we get all warmed up, now it's time to get down to bid'ness. For about two hours we sit down and talk step by step through pretty much everything we know about lighting. I went to law school so I'm a very layered learner...I like to start at the beginning, lay a foundation, and then once we've all grasped that, we'll start layering things in. But always coming back to remember the foundation it's built on.
So for lighting that means starting with the "Why" of how we're using lighting in the first place, and talking at great lengths about how we make light- starting even with just natural light- go to work for us. Here, Justin is demonstrating that directional, dimensional light can even make a brown paper bag look good! :)
From natural light, we build into on camera flash, its different functions, and how we bounce to create the best quality of light. Also, we'll show you a little trick with the infrared that is going to make your dancing pictures WAY more fun. We played Justin Timberlake for this part. :)
After on camera, we demonstrate our "one-light" set up and show 10 different ways that has saved our booties. Then we take a break for dinner, where there's tons of time to talk to us one on one.
After we come back from the break, fed & ready to rock it out, now we build on that foundation we've been laying by adding in a few more advanced set ups like the two-light and larger modifiers. But my favorite part of the night is when people realize that if they can master the on-camera & the one light set up....they can handle any of these like a champ! After that, the formalities are over and we just let people shoot like crazy for a couple of hours, trying out the different set ups as we're right there to help out in any way they need.
This is a straight out of camera (SOOC) shot that Laura Gordon got! Way to ROCK IT OUT Laura!!
We bring in some (clearly BEAUTIFUL!!) models for the attendees to be able to shoot, and we also have some table set ups.
And we pretty much go like that until every question is answered & the location kicks us out! :)
The Charlotte Crew if full effect (minus Alicia, our host!)
Virginia, REPRESENT!!
Our next J&M Lighting Intensive is taking place THIS COMING Monday in Boston and we still have a few spots left. And our next round of dates is Miami on August 13th, Tampa on August 14th, and Atlanta on August 15th. We would LOVE to see you at any of those! For today ONLY, you can use the code "FLASH" to grab $50 off your seat!
With HUGE thanks to the following people for making each of our stops possible:
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