master regions H
photography Adrian Weinbrecht at Epson UK (Central)
aving planned at the beginning of this year to cover as many regional activities as possible, an argu- ment with gravity looked to have put paid to a lot of that. Just a week before writing this, I was buried in the classifieds searching desperately for another cheap automatic car as another broken leg recovery operation threatened to render me less mobile.
The main motivation behind this was the announcement of a seminar, arranged by new Central Region Chairman Hos- sain Mahdavi and starring – no overstatement – advertising and fashion photographer Adrian Weinbrecht. Hosted at Epson UK’s Hemel Hempstead HQ and supported by Phase One, Profoto and Creativity Back- drops along with Colorworld Imaging, Cliik and Hetros Fine Art framing, it looked like a great opportunity not only for the members and non-members attending, but also for me per- sonally to learn from someone using the Phase One system in a high-pressure environment. Epson’s Hemel Hempstead HQ has been a popular destina- tion for seminars, and it works extremely well – accessible and with good facilities. The seminar was priced at £25 for the day, with catering included. Creativ- ity Backdrops even provided a prize, won by Paul Buchanan, of two backgrounds.
After a brief introduction by Hoss, covering aspects of the MPA for the non-members attending and introducing the sponsors, Adrian quickly kicked off with a presentation and talk about his business. With blue-chip clients and agencies, Adrian’s career is an ideal aspi- rational model – starting from a passion for photography and an early entry into the wed- ding business, he’s now in the enviable position of picking and choosing from some prestigious customers, yet it’s clear that
MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY 46
the shoot is still more excit- ing than the amounts invoiced afterwards. The almost carefree attitude belies a rock-solid technical and business attitude, a shot of Adrian’s workhorse Mercedes and the typical kit carried to a shoot is thoroughly intimidating.
Where Adrian’s seminar stands out, however, is not the technical. He is not someone who has a diary filled with tour and seminar dates jostling for position with photography. This was a rare opportunity for the delegates, and his delivery and confidence would be worthy of standup bookings for the Fringe. The audience appeared at ease, and interrupted frequently with questions that were answered readily, albeit with the occa- sional joke and a certain style of banter. Such a flow made it easy not to overthink the images presented – corporate banking clients, magazine cover shoots, commissioned work that displayed a control and subtlety of light that tied into the after- noon session and shoot. Where composite images and retouch- ing had been required, Adrian explained the process well. A quick lunch and network- ing time later, where Phase One had several bodies and backs available for delegates to try, model Elle was introduced and Adrian set up a tethered shoot, working with a variety of Profoto lights to illustrate that realistically, there’s no “rule” to the lights beyond making it look good. As some work to the “one light source” model, and oth- ers will stack and shape lights beyond any natural creation, Adrian demonstrated a build up and progression of looks and results, including working with the daylight HMI system. The tethered shoot allowed Capture One’s “Capture Pilot” to share unprocessed, raw results (in this case) to delegate’s iPads, as the shoot was also mirrored on a projector. Adrian did not stop to
Using connectivity – Adrian was able to demonstrate with big screen projection, and delegates with iPads (below) were able to see the tethered shots as taken on the Phase One system.
fiddle with lights and neglect his audience – information continued to flow as the shoot progressed, either directing his model, or stand-in assistants, discussing everything. As a full day seminar, it was rapid and entertaining, with little corporate placement (jokes about present sponsors aside, there we no lengthy presenta- tions) and delegates really did get most of the day with Adrian’s material. An opportu- nity to use Phase One systems was announced during a break. MPA members can contact Phase One and arrange to use one in their studio for a couple of days – and similarly, Profoto can arrange demos.
Such one-off seminar op- portunities are not as regular as the planned annual cycle of MPA seminars and they are
not to be missed. Uunlike the 2012 Epson-sponsored True Colours seminars, for eample, you don’t get a choice of dates and locations and you don’t get a second helping in response to demand. Hosted in an easy to access location, with good parking and great facilities, this seminar underlined the strength of regional events and the importance of not letting such bargains pass by, the cost of the day being only a little more than the inevitable motorway dinner and breakfast consumed en-route from further north. – Richard Kilpatrick
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Useful URLs:
www.epson.co.uk www.adrianweinbrecht.com www.phaseone.com www.profoto.com www.creativitybackgrounds.co.uk
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