Jerry Ghionis Seminar

Hey everyone!

I had the amazing opportunity to attend a seminar by Jerry Ghionis yesterday. For those of you that know me, or have been in my classes, you know that he is my all time favorite photographer. I am a HUGE fan. I am probably writing this too soon after the event, as my mind is still racing with ideas, concepts, and inspiration to be able to put together a cohesive, or even reasonably informational post. But know that many ideas that were shared will be past along to my classes as the weeks go on.

The seminar was in 2 parts, the first part was a seminar given in a ballroom at a hotel by LAX. It was attended by over 100 people. The 2nd portion was a group of 20 photographers getting to shoot with Jerry.

During the first portion, which went from 10am to 6:30, Jerry talked a lot about how he shoots, and where he gets his ideas and inspiration. He is a pop culture junky, and gathers ideas from music videos, fashion magazines, and movies. He showed a recent shoot that was heavily inspired by a Katy Perry video, even going so far as to show the video and specific scenes from it, and then showing his interpretation. Great stuff. He also went through some of his familiar work and showed us the inspiration behind those shots. During this portion, he talked a lot about the inspiration, and holding on to it, a visual memory bank. He used the metaphor  of "having to remember where you put your keys". You've seen a particular image in your head before, now you need to remember how to get to the finished product. A lot of his shooting involves just taking his time. Slowing down. Working through his "Recipe" in order, which is:

Jerry Ghionis' recipe

1. Light
2. Location/Background
3. Concept/Action/Pose
4. Technique/Exposure
5. Finesse/Reaction/Expression

The most important element is always the light. Jerry talked a lot about being in amazing locations with bad lighting, which creates bad images, vs being in an ugly location with great light. The great light always wins. Always find the light first, and then move on to location.



He spent some time covering technique, marketing, selling, branding, posing, the schedule of a wedding day, people skills, album design, the list is very long. I will be covering many of his concepts in my wedding classes.

For the second portion, 20 of us headed over to the Proud Bird restaurant to watch and shoot with Jerry. We started off by just sitting down and chatting for about an hour. Then he fired up the camera, and we got to watch him work and see/hear his thought process as we went around the location with a model. What an amazing and unique experience. We got to see him work with on and off camera speedlights, flashlights, and available/ambient light.  Many people shot over his shoulder, but I choose to keep the camera packed up and just watch/learn/observe. I don't regret that at all. It was a fantastic way to learn what he looks for in his light, the direction of light, the quality of light, and how he shapes and aims his own added light. Many of you in my Thursday night lighting class will be the beneficiaries of several new ideas I picked up.

If you are not familiar with Jerry's work, he is a master at simplicity and finding/creating great light. He really does make it look easy. And he spends a great deal of time talking about not getting bogged down and tripping over too much extra gear. He shoots weddings solo, and generally with 2 lenses, his 70-200, and a 17-40. He also only shoots JPEG. Crazy, ain't it? ;-)

I'm feeling inspired, and a great need to get off the computer, so I will see you all soon.