The Light is Always Right: An Evening with Damien Lovegrove

Tuesday, May 22, 2018, 7 PM - 10 PM  | Ghent (Belgium)

What's the connection between a flight to England ten years ago and the evening session 'An Evening with Damien Lovegrove'?

On July 16th, 2008, I was on a plane headed for Bristol (UK). I had just lost my job in the financial sector and as I had had it with number-crunching, I wanted to 'try and do something with photograpy for a living'. Up until then, that had just been a hobby, a welcome artistic antidote in a world dominated by numbers. I had booked a two-day workshop with Damien Lovegrove, who back then was already doing some very cool stuff with flash and available light.

Fast forward ten years... I've written a practical book about flash photography and I teach workshops myself, but that one workshop with Damien has always stayed with me for several reasons. First of all because it was my first serious attempt at working with hotshoe flashes outside of a studio and working with a professional model (who would later grace the cover of my Lightroom book). But mainly, because I remember Damien's professionalism and his catchy enthusiasm. The man is like the human version of a six-pack of Red Bull!

That's why I am super excited to invite Damien Lovegrove, ten years after our first meeting, to Belgium for... 

This three hour evening session comprises three main sections:

1. First, Damien will walk and talk us through a number of images of his impressive portfolio. He will explain why he used a particular light, how it was set up and why he used this or that lens. For him, there is no good or bad light. It all depends on what you want the image to say.
2. During the second (and longest) part, we'll get to see Damien during a live shoot with a model, a couple of flashes and some lighting modifiers. He'll work his magic by changing the direction of the light or the camera angle to achieve dramatically different results with the same subject and background. After having watched this demo, you'll no longer lust for new gear, but you'll have found new ways to use your existing gear. Damien will also introduce you to his 'trusted old friend'. Who or what that is, you will know on May, 22nd.
3. In the last part, Damien will briefly show us his Lightroom workflow. Briefly, because he already gets the look 95 percent right in-camera. Yet, he has a numer of handy tips in store for us, amongst others about prepping a file for printing.

Things you'll learn during this evening session:

• Working with hard and soft light: what to choose when.
• From soft to dramatic: how to create different looks with the same base material.
• How to get great images 'straight-out-of-camera' so you can limit your postprocessing
• Quick Lightroom fixes: why Damien spends no longer than one minute per image in postproduction.
• How to direct your model for maximum impact.
• Why good lighting material doesn't have to cost a fortune.
• And of course plenty of tips, tricks and advice that you may expect from someone with over thirty years of photographic experience and a background as a BBC lighting director.

Practicalities, price and location

• This evening course and live demo photoshoot is held on Tuesday evening, May 22nd in Bedrijvencentrum De Punt, Kerkstraat 108, 9050 Gentbrugge near Ghent (Belgium)
• Coffee, tea and water will be provided. At the end of the evening, Damien will gladly buy you a Stella, his favourite beer when he's in Belgium. If you think Stella tastes like Heineken, there will be sparkling wine, too!
• There are two types of tickets available: the Standard Edition ticket (€ 69) buys you access to the evening, but the best value for money undoubtedly is the Ultimate Edition ticket (€ 99): in addition to access to the event, this ticket also covers:
  • the eBook version of my Dutch Flash! Flitsfotografie op locatie book (worth € 24,95 - if you don't speak Dutch, you'll receive the English eBook version);
  • my 'Piet's Power Preset Pack, Vol 01' Lightroom presets (worth € 14,95) but above all... 
  • Damien's just-released Lumen video-tutorial (worth € 60), which receives raving reviews everywhere.
• By themselves, these extras are worth more than the Ultimate Edition ticket price itself!

During the live demo, Damien will show you how you can create different looks with limited means.

Tickets:

Credit Card payments are preferred. In order to book your spot(s), click on the Add To Cart button for the ticket type of your choice below. An icon of a shopping cart will appear in the top right corner of your browser. Click on that and follow the rest of the payment procedure. If you need an invoice, you can enter your details on the form. Although we encourage Credit Card payments, you can also pay by bank transfer. Just shoot us an email and we'll contact you with payment details.

FAQ's

Should I bring a camera or laptop?

• This is a lecture/course, it's not a workshop. As such, you don't need to bring your camera. You may want to bring a laptop or tablet to take notes. However, please note that the meeting room will have chairs only and you won't be able to charge your laptop battery. Alternatively, bring a good old-fashioned notebook and pen! If you buy the Ultimate Edition ticket, you'll have all the notes you need by means of Damien's 2+ hour video tutorial Lumen and my 240 page Flash! book.

Why should I attend this course?

• There are few people who can play with and sculpt light like Damien Lovegrove. His experience as a lighting director at the BBC obviously is no stranger to this. Damien also loves to experiment and evolve. Hard light and soft light, flash and continuous light, close-ups but also 'figures in a landscape': he masters it all. But probably the biggest reason to participate in this course is that Damien's legendary enthusiasm will give you a boost to go out and try this flash thing on your own. The techniques you'll learn during this session can be applied to any genre of photography: wedding, kids, corporate portraits and so on.

Terms and Conditions:

• Tickets are non-refundable. If you cannot make it to the event, you can always choose to let someone else take your place. Please inform us of the name of the new participant.
• MoreThanwords/Piet Van den Eynde reserves the right to cancel the course in case of insufficient participants or when the course leader (Damien Lovegrove) is unable to attend the course because of illness, accident or delay. In case of such a cancellation, participants will receive a full refund of the course price they paid. The refund is limited to the price the attendant paid to participate at the course and does not include any extra costs the participant may have incurred (such as, but not limited to: travel and hotel expenses).

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