Recap and Mini-Review of The Flash Bus Tour 2011- David Hobby – Joe McNally – San Francisco, CA
Strobist & McNally - http://www.theflashbus.com/
Two of the biggest names in off-camera flash (speedlight) photography set off to do a tour in the US together this year, David “Strobist” Hobby and Joe McNally. Of course I had to register for this rockstaresque seminar right away to make sure I make it. Then a couple hundred dollars off my credit card ( I bought the “Lighting with Layers” DVD also btw) and a few months later; David Hobby (Strobist.com) and Joe McNally arrived in San Francisco on a cold rainy morning to preach their off-camera flash philosophies fresh off their tour bus dubbed “The Flash Bus”.
As an avid strobist blog reader and a Canonista (they both shoot Nikon) I tend to prefer David’s methods (manual) over Joe’s (ttl). I have read McNally’s “The Moment it Click’s” and “Hotshoe Diaries” and have been a fan of his work ever since. This sold out crowd at the South San Francisco convention center was just as excited as I was to see what we had in store for us for the next few hours. I learned A LOT and came out inspired to create some awesome images. I didn’t take many photos from that day but the few that I do have show a bit of Joe and David’s seminar.
Was there any free stuff? YES! We got a swag bag courtesy of Adorama and filled with swag from The Flash Bus (TFB sticker), thinkTank photo (memory card holder), Lumiquest (ultra strap), Rosco (gel set), Datacolor (notebook) and Frio (coldshoe). Everyone who registered got a bag, BUT that wasn’t all they gave away. Throughout the seminars McNally and Hobby had a handful of give-aways. None of which I was able to add in addition to my swag bag. From what I remember they gave away memory cards, card readers, justin clamps, and reflectors. Oh well next time I’ll snag something.
David Hobby’s talk consisted of breaking down different photo shoots that he created. He spoke of his thought process and what he does pre-shoot, during shoot, and post shoot. He throughly went through how he acheived his images along with troubles he had along the way and how he solved them. One thing I really got from his talk was how he looks back at what he did and how he could have done better. His final images were great, but he also stressed the need to “tear down” your great photos afterwards and find ways to improve on the created images and take note of your setup in order to be able to replicate it when needed. Below are two images from David’s talk. He would accompany his break down with images of the setup, this is probably my favorite out of all his examples. To make a long story short he got an opera singer to sing in the shower with the shower running (mad props for that one!). Building rapport with a client to the point that they trust you enough to stick them in a shower is now on my bucket list.
Headlining the show was Joe McNally. Here’s a shot of a “portion” of his gear.
Joe McNally had more of a live demo using his assistant, models, and volunteers in the crowd. I have never really seen TTL being used to this degree but his method really made for a quick and dynamic shoot, granted he is Joe McNally and has dedicated assistants. An example of how McNally structured his talk is, he would start of with about two speedlights explain his reasons for changes answer some questions and build up to a more complicated set up like the ones below. He seemed fairly structured but he also allowed for a casual type shoot in which he would change things on the fly depending on how he felt.
