Italy Master Class Wrap Up

Good Morning Everybody,

I know it’s been a few days since I’ve ben online but rack it up to ongoing internet connectivity issues plus a super tight schedule. Clay and I wrapped up our Italy Master Class super late – 1:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.  Yep, it was another long day but I think everyone in the class really enjoyed the week.  I know Clay and I sure did.  Here is a quick grab shot of our class below and yep, that’s the Castle in the background – pretty cool!

Earlier in the week we told the class we were going to have a image competition on the last day.  Everyone submitted one images for each of the three categories – Portrait, Shadow,and Composition. 

Clay and I judged the entries, along with input from the wine imbibing audience and picked the three winners.  We ended giving away over $2500 worth of prizes to the winners and runner’s up. I wish I had the images to show you but they are on Clay’s computer – rats! 

Anyway, thanks to NIK Software, OnOne Software, Westcott, and Graphic Authority for supplying some great prizes.  Clay and I also added our own training resources to the mix so a good time was had by all.  I’ll email Clay and see if I can get copies of the images and add them to this post as an addendum in the near future.

A Peek At Some Of Clay’s Images

What I loved about teaching with Clay this week was the fact that we both teach the same lighting fundamentals but come up with images that are completely different from each other.  I’m a wide angle guy and Clay loves his 70-200mm IS lens on his Canon 1DX.  I think the class really liked the two visual approaches and still appreciated the fact that we were both saying the same thing, lighting and composition, in spite of the fact that our vision was so different.

I’ve been sharing a few of my images this week.  How about I show you a few of Clay’s – he said it was OK ;~)

Check out these two images below.  I love them!  Clay always carries an infrared modified camera with him and here are two of Clay’s favorite IR photos from the week.

Clay also got pretty creative with an old window frame too.  Check out his image below – it’s a great image of Cici, our model, photographed through the dirty old window.

And last but not least, check out this image that Clay shot through a piece of glass.  I believe the model was under the glass and he arranged flower pedals both under and on top of the glass to capture this beautiful image.

What About Next Year?

That’s a good question.  We all discussed it, looked at some possibilities and have decided that we definitely want to do our combined Master Class again.  Where?  Budapest, mid-September 2013.  Jeff, the Master Class coordinator has friends in Budapest and has visited the area several times.  The word is that it is wondrously beautiful area and would be an ideal location for the class.  We will be planning a day trip as we did this year to Sienna but next year we will adventure to Vienna for some on-location instruction and sight seeing.  Stay tuned and I’ll get you more details as soon as we have them nailed down. We already have a few from Italy’s Master Class committed to attend next year, so reserve space on your calendars now (final dates will be posted soon) as we sold out this years class in only a few weeks. Budapest’s Master Class will fill up quickly.

It was a great week, the location was a hit, the food fabulous, the attendees loved it –  and Clay and I had a blast working-teaching and playing together for the week. 

Hope you can join us in Budapest.  -David

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We’ve been in Venice a few days – wait till you see some of the images - and head to Pompeii and Positano tomorrow.  I’ll check back with you as soon as I can find a few minutes – too many images, too little time ;~)

See you soon,  -David