I met Adam Duckworth back in April 2009 when I took his course on Advanced Lighting Techniques, courtesy of theFlashCentre.
To be brutally honest, I was really nervous when I booked myself on the course, having virtually no studio lighting experience to speak of other than a day’s studio macro course and fiddling with my own studio lights. I have to say though that Adam was really great to spend the day with. I learned so much from that single event. Much, much more than I could have hoped for. I can certainly see why he has been awarded Editorial Photographer of the Year.
It wasn’t just Adam either.
We had a great model for the day, the lovely Leah, and I learned nearly as much from her as I did from Adam himself. Between then they made a great team. The whole day was very relaxed and informal and totally charged with positive energy. I think I floated all the way home down the M6.
Adam and Leah between them were very instrumental in me deciding upon a career change and indeed the birth of this very blog.
I’d undertaken a few photography days in the past and thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. This one had something else though – it was interactive. I’d always been nervous of photographing people but was now in a situation where I had to do it or waste the day. Adam was really relaxed and calm about the way he set up each shot, explaining everything as he went. e.g. why he was setting a light here or putting a reflector there. He was obviously enjoying himself which made the day so much more fun. Leah was great too and so easy to work with. I was really nervous at first though. She was the first model I’d worked with and I really didn’t know what to do or say to give her direction. It didn’t help that Adam asked me to step up to shoot first and many of the other delegates were full-time pros. My nervousness must have showed too. Those first images weren’t great by the day’s standards but they were amongst the best I’d ever taken at the time.
Things improved significantly throughout the day though. Leah was kind enough to give me some advice over lunch and Adam’s relaxed style was infectious throughout the course. My competance and confidence improved no end, as did my images.
I learned a lot that day: photographic and studio techniques, working with and directing a model, that I could happily do this for a living.
So for me, Adam Duckworth is a truly inspirational photographer and on so many levels too.
