Sat, 16 May 2009

Those Who Teach, Can!

  • Esa and Pekka figure it out in the basement
  • Simo preparing mentally for a grueling modeling session
  • At one time the basement was chock full of photog's
  • Liisa checking out the luckily NOT unfolding scene
  • Snoots and grids galore
  • Meisseurs et dames, ze table is ready
  • Set-up for the flying parkour/ninja shoot
  • Kenneth rocks (Photo courtesy of Mari Waali)
  • Liisa checking out the basement (Photo courtesy of Mari Waali)
  • The sky's not gonna fall on Simo. But that window might. (Photo courtesy of Anssi Honkanen)
  • Kenneth in the freezer (Photo courtesy of Liisa Salonen)
  • Simo and really cool window light (Photo courtesy of Matti Häyrynen)
  • Kenneth feeling bluish (Photo courtesy of Liisa Salonen)
  • After posing solemly for so long, Simo had to get it out of the system (Photo courtesy of Matti Häyrynen)
  • Liisa in RetroFokus' backyard. (Photo courtesy of Mari Waali)

"Is that David Hobby incarnate?" No, just me. No shorts, no infinite supply of Mountain Dew. Just me. But what a blast we had!

So, two days of Strobist-flavoured instruction by yours truly. The first day we were holed up in a stuffy computer class, where I tried to convince people on the heavenly benefits of off-camera flash. Luckily half of the people knew all that already. It was also clearly established that my future doesn't lie as a professional Power-Point, er, artist.

On the second day we convened at Pinewood RetroFokus Studios, where 'open brief' was the name of the game. I didn't want to dictate the days proceedings too much, which ensured that everybody had a great time. Learning is much easier when you're not under pressure.

Kenneth rolled in first, with a very impressive Nikon trade-show on tow. What was really nice was that while comprehensive, his gear wasn't for showing off, his was very utilitarian set-up. After a while everyone had showed up and people were divided to teams roughly by the camera brands they use. That way the Nikon flashes could chat with themselves and Canon flashes likewise with themselves.

The, erm, unique surroundings of RetroFokus soon had the photographers' creative juices flowing and they found many good (read: downright weird) sets for their shoots. My role was at that point delegated to 'that goofy guy' in the background, which was nice. What's super nice is that those photographers who weren't used to off-camera flashes really kicked a** with their pictures.

Kenneth had a moment of terror when the threads of his SB-900's plastic table stand gave up and the flash fell from a stand hitting the floor and playing dead rest of the day. At that point it was VERY clear that Nikon giving up on the brass threads on their table stands was pure stupidity. Though I'm sure that after people seeing my Stroboframes, they started to make sense to many.

The RetroFokus crew has been talking about open-house Saturdays/Sundays, where we would invite every photographer we know to join us for a day of no-stress shoots with like-minded people. This day convinced me that we REALLY have to set all that up ASAP.
Stay tuned!

Written by Mikko Niemelä on Sat, 16 May 2009