My Day with Moose & Joe

One of the downsides of being a nature photographer is limited opportunities to socialize. There's no water cooler at the office. So it's always fun when I get a chance to shoot with some of my friends. I was fortunate today to spend the day with Moose Peterson and Joe McNally while they co-lead their landscape workshop in San Francisco with Laurie Excell and Kevin Dobler. Their DLWS series has become immensely popular. I was fortunate to co-teach the very first one with Moose in Moab many years ago but now there is quite a large team at each one and the events are longer and better than ever...

Moose advertises the workshops as the vacation you need a vacation from and this one was no exception. The participants are up pre-dawn for a sunrise shoot (today they went to Treasure Island for sunrise views of the San Francisco skyline). Then after a quick breakfast break its back to the classroom for some informative lectures by Moose on photo techniques, Laurie on Photoshop and Joe (the god of Nikon flash) on creative lighting. And back out for more photography. Moose had a special treat set up for all of us for the afternoon, with a full firehouse and costumed crew ready to perform for us. Joe set up some of his kit of 15 flashes to show what could be done. Moose not only set up some great portrait opportunities but let participants tie into his remote flash to capture some images of their own--like the image of a firefighter coming down a rope you see below.

By using a remote flash and dialing down the ambient exposure (using negative exposure compensation) the image of this firefighter changes from being an everyday shot taken mid-afternoon to a dramatic shot that looks like it was created in the late evening.

Joe McNally is not only the wizard of the small flash, but he owns more of them than any other three people I know. Here he is setting up nearly a dozen of them for foreground, middle ground and background lighting of a rescue truck and a rare firefighter in a wetsuit since this station is on the coast and is active in coastal rescue in addition to their traditional firefighting and rescue duties. 

Joe McNally Readies nearly a dozen flash units for a
"Portrait of a Hero" shot of a San Francisco Firefighter

Just like the two DLWS seminars I guest taught with Moose all the participants worked hard in this one. But now they are packed with even more great stuff. Joe adds an extra dimension with his knowledge of portrait and flash photography and Kevin Dobler manages an extensive loaner pool so participants can try out unusual gear. And Laurie's knowledge of Capture NX2 and Photoshop complement the in the field instruction.

In any case, everyone had a great day and got not just some good shots but some great ideas about how to use new approaches to working with a variety of shooting situations.--David