Hosting My Very First Workshop
During the buildup to my recent photography exhibit at Webster University’s Kooyumjiun Gallery, the gallery manager Kristina Richards asked if I’d be willing to host one or more workshops for any local high schools that might be interested in learning about the process.
I readily agreed, briefly panicking in the process. But, soon enough, panic gave way to anticipation, and I started thinking about how a posse of young artists could best benefit from 30 minutes in a studio with me. And an idea began to take shape.
One of the most satisfying things about photographing anything in a studio setting, especially pop culture figures, is knowing how much better the final product will appear when compared with how it looks just sitting on the table. Photographing indoors or outdoors with available light is its own discipline, and I love doing that as well. But the absolute creative control that one can achieve in a studio setting is unsurpassed. You can literally paint with light as your medium.
I’ve had this figure set of The Mandalorian on Blurrg by Hot Toys on display in my home for years, and every single time I looked at it, I would think about how cool of a photo it would make. The tall, lean silhouette of the character atop this giant, awkard space lizard always reminded me of something that Frank Frazetta would have painted.
And that line of thought took me to one of Frazetta’s “Death Dealer” paintings, with the wicked-looking warrior of his own creation astride a powerful war horse, set in the smoking aftermath of a battle.
“Death Dealer I” by Frank Frazetta
And, just like that, I knew what to do.
Of the scores of local schools to which Kris reached out, only Francis Howell North in St. Charles expressed interest. Which was fine. I’m new to this sort of thing, and, as it turned out, I needed to take an entire day off of work to make it happen.
About 40 or so students would be there, along with a pair of teachers, on the day of the workshop. Prior to their arrival, I’d met up with representatives of Webster’s Media Department to build the set, light it, and ensure that everything would go off without a hitch.
The students split up into groups of about 20. After rambling on briefly about my history with toy photography and Sideshow and Webster and such, we got to work and making the photograph happen.
I asked for volunteers, and got more than I bargained for, to the extent that people were taking turns either firing the camera, holding the bounce card, and manning the trigger on the canned haze.
Many exposures were made, and I’m sending them all to their teachers so that the students can work their will with them in Photoshop. Here’s my first pass at editing it myself.
