It's been a fun roller coaster ride these past couple of months making pictures in all sorts of wonderful places and meeting new people. Not just shooting one particular thing but having a nice mix of interesting assignments has been keeping my mind (and life) full of surprises. Have seen a lot of mileage on planes and trains in this year alone which is a great feeling to still be moving along during these stormy times for many out there. For me to be making stuff on a consistent level both commissioned and personal work is a good thing especially during these times when there's just so much creativity going around the block a few times. Since I have a major backlog of stuff that I haven't managed to post, I'm starting with the first which takes me back to last September when I was in Hong Kong once again teaching a two-day photography workshop under one of the major global leading brand called Siemens. Siemens is all about innovation and they aren't afraid of trying out a few neat out-of-the-box things. One of those is producing various different types of events in which you can see by the ad below. Also it's not too bad to have been the first to do such a photography event for them either.
Got into Hong Kong on a Sunday night late in September, a day before the workshop, but in time to grab some dinner at my local favorite Tsui Wah Restuarant in the Tsim Sha Tsui area. Gotta love the cheap and big portioned food there! So Monday rolls around and I ended up spending half the day prepping the last minute details for the first day of the workshop. The other half was spent running a bunch of errands and checking out the local scene.
As evening rolls around, it was time to head over to the Siemens center (or centre as they will spell it over in HK) located at Central Station. Still had some time to kill then so some of my friends who were attending the workshop ended up arriving early and we all ended up going for a quick bite and drink at Starbucks just right around the corner. My friends, Daniel (L) and Mave (R), are the ones who got me setup for this gig and it's all thanks to them for making this happen. I owe you guys one!
Day 1 was a blast. A great group of participants local to the area and I think one flew in from Shanghai to attend. It was a real honor to get the chance to teach what I know and think about photography.
I sorted through a dozen comp cards when planning the workshop and there were actually a few models I wish I could've worked with until I came across one that stood out from the rest. And that was international model from Vietnam based in Hong Kong Phuong Rouzaire. She's 5'10 and on point. She's worked with the top dog photographers such as Joe McNally and Zack Arias so it was a real pleasure to get to work with someone as talented as she is.
She's actually really tall and I'm actually really short! ;-)
Demonstrating how to shoot people with the camera you already have and how to make your pictures more interesting.
Shooting tethered so everyone could see how the pictures are coming out live.
Phuong near the fancy fire place.
Everyone got the chance to experiment with their cameras.
I made some cool and simple PowerPoint slides for the workshop. On this slide I talked about cameras and how to make the most out of what you already own.
Setting things up...
Me and Rosana. She's the one of the people in marketing over at Siemens.
Day 1 group shot!
Phuong and Haruna having a little fun. Both great people and helped me get through the entire two days.
We all went outside and made some night pictures on the famous steps on Duddell Street. I didn't know it was actually a famous landmark until that night!
Day 2 group shot and that's a wrap! I had a ton of fun doing this wonderful workshop and wanted to thank everyone involved in making this possible. It was a real pleasure meeting new and old friends and I look forward to the next workshop in 2013! Details will be announced later!