Lighting and the Art of Portraits on Location - with JD Scott, JD Scott Photography

Limit 8 students

Location portraiture is challenging, requiring us to interact with our subject, our location, our equipment, and the light--existing and created, to produce an atmosphere that helps to tell the story we find or want to create. This session looks at the basics for creatively controlling the production of a well-lit portrait using minimal and portable equipment.  Participants in this workshop learn to understand and apply the principles of location portraiture through the creative potential of location, natural light, small ”speedlight” strobes and professional strobes. The morning session will be devoted to a short lecture and a lighting demonstration where we explore natural light: hard, soft, bounced, reflected, and diffused as well as the operation and use of small strobes and professional strobe light sources. The strobe portion of the demonstration will provide an overview and usage of the basic light modifiers for these devices such as soft boxes, grid spots, reflectors, and colored gels with a discussion concerning how to select those best suited to a particular subject and scene. Other morning topics include the rigging of lights, packing and preparing for location, and proper equipment selection.

The remainder of the day we practice lighting techniques in an inspiring exterior and interior location at Serenbe, where we will focus on creating simple but expressive lighting schemes. Each participant will have the opportunity to make photographs in at least one of these locations, depending on class size and time limitations.

Our subjects will include a mix of hired models, town residents, and our fellow workshop participants.

What You Should Bring:

Students should have a strong working knowledge of manual mode operation on your digital SLR camera and strobe.  Please bring any existing light modifiers that you might have available for your speedlight, such as bounce card, diffusers, Fong etc. and an off camera sync attachment for your hand held strobe.

For aspiring amateur and serious amateur photographers wishing to make meaningful interpretative location portraits

*JD has been called on assignment to Africa, this workshop will be rescheduled, please stay tuned*

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Questions?
contact SPC Asst. Dir. Jenna Duffy
office - 770-463-9098

About the Instructor

J.D. Scott has worked for over 20 years as a professional photographer; based in Atlanta he specializes in creating evocative photographs in the studio and on location around the world for advertising, corporate, editorial, healthcare and social institutions. Among his advertising and corporate clients include Accenture, Coca-Cola, Earthlink, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, St. Joseph’s Hospital, American Cancer Society,, Duke University, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, and The Alliance Theater.  Editorial credits include the New York Times, USA Today, Ebony Magazine, Los Angeles Times, and National Geographic, among others.
 
J.D. is also passionate about documenting the work of organizations that benefit the world, locally and globally, to help bring their efforts to the attention of a wider audience.  Internationally, these have included CARE, The Carter Center, the Synergos Institute, and World Vision, with a host of assignments abroad, especially in Africa. Shortly after 9/11, J.D. was part of an expedition into a remote part of the Sahara Desert in West Africa that was organized by the U.S. Ambassador to Niger to highlight areas and people seldom seen by Americans. His web site is www.jdscottphoto.com.