SAcamera Food and Fashion Lighting Workshop in JHB

July 12th, In Events, by The SAcamera Team,

SAcamera and Elinchrom Lighting Workshop

Although SAcamera has a Cape Town showroom, to the vast majority of our customers it exists only as a dot coza or perhaps as an occasional visitor to the inboxes of our newsletter subscribers. On the 24th of June 2009 we made a very real step into the real world as we partnered with Elinchrom to host Fashion and Food DIY, a master class in lighting presented by Neil Kirby and David Pastoll at their studio in Johannesburg. Both have animpressive client list and Neil is a past recipient of a PICA award.

We began advertising the event through an email to our newsletter subscribers. Within hours the first session was fully booked. Attendance on the night was fantastic. We limited places to a maximum of 20 per session as space was restricted and we wanted classes small enough to foster a more intimate learning experience. Attendees learnt about large format photography and how to light for food from David, who did an exposition on high key lighting that produced some classic table-top shots of scones. With a short break to move the still-life table out of the way, participants got a chance to arrest the appetite David had created with some snacks and refreshments before Neil took over with some fashion shots of a Japanese model. The learning highlight was undoubtedly a demonstration of what can be achieved all the way from a multiple light setup with expensive, larg softboxes, through to a single light and some ingenuity. Getting time from a seasoned pro to show you how it’s done and openly share the secrets of their trade is a real privilege and the second session took good advantage of this as an animated David entertained the absorbed crowd long past cut-off.

All attendees also received a R150 shopping voucher from SAcamera. Not a bad deal for a class which only had a R50 booking fee. We’ve been asked about future events from the point at which we began advertising this first one. We don’t have any set dates or plans, but with the success of this one behind us, it’s something we will look at doing again in some shape or form in the future. Our passion will always remain to enhance the online experience and in future the SAcamera community can expect us to attempt to bring this sort of experience to everyone who has an interest in it, from the foothills of the Kwazulu Natal midlands to the high rise of the big city.