As you all know, I teach!

• Here, every single day.
• At Sheridan College
• At the annual Niagara School of Imaging (book now!)
• In my own school, www.cameratraining.ca
• In regular seminars across North America and worldwide.

I love to share, and I love to teach.

A lot of that teaching takes place in my friend Sam’s wonderful and fully equipped studio at www.hamiltonstudio.ca. Because it is easy driving distance from both the Toronto area, and because it is affordable (I don’t want you to have to pay a penny more than needed), and because unlike a lot of Toronto studios,  it is easy to reach from the freeway. But most of all, because it is ideal for teaching. A cool place, an old warehouse.  You will see the courses listed at www.cameratraining.ca. Here’s a pic we shot at the studio:

Sam is a TV- and video-pro: next to photography, TV is what he does for a living.  So here’s some good news: we are adding video to the arsenal of teaching tools. As a complement to the in-person teaching and the e-books.

Here’s Sam, filming me today, using his pro gear:

That shot was taken how? I was in a hurry because I was talking to the camera, and I did not want to look away from the camera for more than a fraction of a second. And there is no strong back light or anything else that makes auto-exposure hard. So I used Aperture mode, at 3200 ISO. I used a 50mm lens. At f/1.6 (after all, I want to blur the background), that gave me 1/320th sec shutter speed, which is plenty fast to not get a shaky picture.

I think you will like the videos a lot, by themselves or as a complement to in-person training. Some will be very long, some in between, and some will be short “tips and tricks” videos, of a minute of two. You will see them start to appear in the next weeks and months: stay tuned.

But do better than staying tuned. Take part in the process. I would like to know what short (or indeed, long) subjects you would like me to talk about. Send me your requests, and if I can fit them into the schedule, I will do so. Often, subjects are easier explained by a live human than by printed words: think about those subjects. Anything mystify you? Anything you still do not quite “get”? Here’s your chance to ask me to explain in person! Not quite the same as being in my live courses and workshops, but not a bad alternate – especially if used as a complement. So let me have your requests. Please Email me with a subject line that contains “VIDEO IDEA”. Let’s have some fun!

I shall look forward to your ideas!

End notes:

• My sons tell me “no-one uses tape anymore” for anything, and no-one under 30 knows what it even is. Not true – check these cameras. And check a live studio. Plenty of tape. The same is true of film – ask Quentin Tarantino if he films “digital”.Take that, boys!
• For those of you who read yesterday’s post, there is a blog post about yesterday’s Picture Change opening here, on the Photosensitive blog!
• I plan to be in Las Vegas, NV this weekend and for a few days afterward – anyone there who wants to meet up, learn something, have me shoot anything, or anything else at all: drop me a line!