Mentoring with Damian McGillicuddy

Friday saw my third mentoring session with Damian “Big Dog” McGillicuddy at his Studio in Warrington.

It saw another day discussing at length not just tricks as many other trainers would give you but the fundamentals of photography.

It’s hugely apparent from my time with Damian that many new photographers learn photography totally unaware of some of the most basic but key rules. Sometimes its simply because its not taught, or the information freely available is occasionally wrong. Many are also under the illusion a good camera will do the hard work for us.. I don’t intend to be one of them, my goal is understand as much as I can so I can continually improve my work. That’s why pretty much the only training I attend now is Mentor Me on Steroids.

So after lengthy discussions on theory and technique, lighting patterns, posing and metering, we got to watch Damian work with Rachael our lovely model. Then it was a case of setting up our lights and putting our own spin on the location and lighting.

Another fantastic and inspiring day, Damian’s passion is contagious and his openess is so refreshing. He makes us think about things, not just leading us by the hand or showing us a single setup. I firmly believe I’m being equipped to be a better photographer when I spend my time here, instead of just learning one more trick shot to add to my repetoir like other training I have attended in the past.

Highly recommended and highly inspiring. For information these images were shot on a Canon 7d, with a Sigma 10-20mm lens and two Nissin speedlites. One with a DMSL beauty dish.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 1st, 2010 at 12:47. It is filed under Portraits in Warwickshire and tagged with big dog, Damian McGillicuddy, edgy, Mentor, model, portrait, speedlite, strobist, urban. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.