2009 Save-the-Dates: Dubai, Paso Robles and Santa Fe Workshops
In late March / early April, I'll be teaching three classes at a new, expanded Gulf Photo Plus 2K9 in Dubai. More on that full line-up (and an amazing video) after the jump. Also coming soon is a week-long intensive lighting workshop in California in late April, details of which will be posted shortly. And looking further out, I also will be teaching for the Santa Fe Workshops in San Miguel d'Allende (Mexico) in mid-October. More on those last two when the respective sites go live.
But Dubai is fast approaching, so hit the jump for more on that...
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GPP 2009
What can you say about Dubai that has not already been said? It's insane. But a picture is worth a thousand words, so check out what The Big Picture had to say on the matter.
I was there last year for Gulf Photo Plus '08, and I am looking forward to getting back for GPP 2009 at the end of the month.
Scheduled to teach this year: Zack Arias, Carol Dragon, Drew Gardner, Chris Hurtt, Chase Jarvis, Vincent Laforet, Bobbi Lane, Cliff Mautner, Joe McNally, Robin Nichols, David Nightingale, Asim Rafiqui and yours truly.
I'll be teaching three classes -- a two-day lighting seminar for beginners, an introduction to headshots class, and a two-day class on self-generated personal shoots with a purpose.
Which pisses me off, really, because I would much rather be off the clock and attending things like Laforet's three-day assignment class, or any of Zack's classes, or learning high-end HDR with David, or draping models on water buffalos with Drew, or anything with Joe. You get the idea.
Chase is even reprising his five-day soup-to-nuts commercial shoot course, too. Last year it was a huge hit -- one of those things that erases a few years of "school of hard knocks" from your career track. It is the full deal: A 360-degree look at a full commercial assignment, from creative brief to preplan to model selection to shoot to post. Everything.
Note that 5am - 8pm sked on the shoot day, too. Heh.
You'll Run Out of Adjectives
I know Dubai is a stretch for most. Would be for me, too, if they were not bringing me in. But if you are one of those lucky souls with some disposable income left, and live in that quadrant of the world, it might be worth a search on economy-depressed airfares into DXB. Emirates Airlines flies there -- in style -- from just about any major international airport. And the onsite hotel (next door, actually) for GPP is significantly cheaper this year because of those empty rooms, too.
If you are rationalizing the trip as a getaway with your significant other, Dubai is a shopper's paradise. (Or hell, depending on who gets the credit card bill.)The Mall of the Emirates with the indoor ski slope now only barely cracks the top three offerings. My personal favorite is Ibn Battuta Mall, just one of the pavilions of which is pictured at left.
Of course, it has been almost a year since I have been to Dubai which means there is an all-new "biggest mall ever" -- the creatively named Dubai Mall. (Lotta thought went into that, I am sure...) I'll have to check that one out, along with Ibn Battuta again. Not that I am a shop-a-holic. I am mostly in it for the over-the-top cultural/capitalist/visual stimulation. And the air conditioning.
But Dubai's most Freudian attraction is, of course, the Burj Dubai. It will be the tallest building in the world (by a long shot) upon completion this year. If you ever do visit The Burj, skip the stairs and head straight for the elevators for the ride up. I'm just saying.
But for the ride down, you may wish to consider an alternate route:
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Links:
:: Gulf Photo Plus 2009 Main Page ::
:: Blog: Dubai Strobists ::
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Posted at 11:45 PM.
30 Comments:
OK I give up. I am a photographer from the small little town of Paso Robles. I see a week long class is being taught here. Owning the only photographer's studio in town where is this going to be? Please e-mail me details to garylee@garyleephotography.com
Thanx
P.S. Gotta be a misprint
Paso Robles? You're kidding? I live in Paso Robles. That's great news! Keep me posted. I would love to help out in any way that I can.
Hmmm... I'm a Cal Poly Alumnus. Steve Miller is down there too.
thanks for the base jump video. too rich for me, I'll take the elevator.
david/sitbonzo
This comment has been removed by the author.
I'm just wondering if the words, images and videos of foreigners fleeing en-masse from financially collapsed Dubai have made it to the US?
I heard you can pick up any car you want at the Dubai airport. Keys left inside for your conveniece :p
I'd be interested in the week long one in Cal. Please post details ASAP. Give me an idea of dates as some of us work at fulltime gigs and need to block off time. TIA
Wink
Jernej, the NY Times has reported on the collapse of Dubai's economy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html
But as David says if you've got disposable income in this crazy economy there will be deals to be had in Dubai!
Heipel, Jernej-
One of the things I have learned in a concrete way over the last two years is not to project my personal economic situation upon the rest of the population.
Just as there are people who bristle at the fact that I now use store-bought light mods instead of ones made out of cardboard, there are also people who could buy and sell me ten times over without working up a sweat.
So I try to stay at my own personal room temperature WRT gear and how much I spend on it, and write/teach in a way that comprises the whole spectrum of others' economic situations.
Going to Dubai for a photo workshop from the US would be out of my wallet range. But there are lots of people who read the site in that general region for whom it would definitely make sense. And the US/EU area gets a lot of focus on the workshop circuit, so I want to make sure people in the Middle East region know about relatively local opportunities.
Ditto the two, week-long workshops I will be doing this year, for Paso Robles and for Santa Fe. They are expensive, because they will be limited to 15 or so people, with models and lunches and location fees built in.
While a $1k+ workshop fee is not something I would easily handle, I do know there are people who value the one-on-one aspects and heavy shooting of the smaller, longer format at will step up.
I drive a Scion XA. Others have Mercedes. Still others ride a bike or scooter.
Ironically, from my end I would end up doing better financially with my standard weekend format of roomful of inmates running the asylum. But there are people for whom the other format is more valuable and thus have I agreed to participate in two external week-longs this year as a result.
Not to say that I am going all gold-plated and stuff, cause I am not. I am still a shorts, T-shirt and bad haircut kind of guy, and I am actually aiming seriously downmarket for my next major project.
My goal is to leverage the scale of the site to provide high-quality, deep-niche significant video content at <$10 prices.
Included in that price will be a charitable component, targeted at an org that does serious, boots-on-the-ground stuff.
If we can use our size to promote significant learning, at a rock-bottom price *and* generate significant sums to make the world a better place in the process, I am totally there.
We'll see if it works. I am learning as I go, best I can.
-DH
I did not wish to imply there's anything wrong with people attending the workshop. I could care less how anyone spends their time and money. I was just surprised that the event itself is being held in Dubai again. Seems a bold decision among all the talk of people gettin' the hell out of Dodge so to speak.
But then again...not having a reliable source of info on the ground myself I really only know what I read in the media, which of course isn't much to go by. For all I know there is no abandoned Bugatti Veyron just waiting for me to drive into the desert :p
Have fun shopping.
Jernej-
No worries -- Gulf Photo Plus is HQ'd in Dubai. So it's always gonna be there.
Mohamed and his peeps run a very cool ongoing program of classes throughout the year and are the gathering place for the local photo community.
"GPP the conference" is their big blowout "bring everyone in" week.
Every big city should have a Mohamed for the photo folks. Certainly London, NYC, Seattle, Etc.
-D
Hey David (and the rest reading this),
The UAE seems just as affected as the rest of the world. Things are looking down...but as a previous strobist post mentioned...we could use this time to learn new skills, polish old ones....etc.
Anyway...I am a closet strobist....got 4 canon ex series strobes, a few umbrellas and a couple of PWs...used it several times in secret...but hope to learn more from you (David) once you get here. Also want to get more ideas....whatever I can...
This does not necessarily mean I could afford to buy all this gear. And now I'm broke!!!! Took me well over a year to get all this....but this was something I was hell bent on getting. There are others out here who could buy this on a whim. Just to point out that there is a wide financial spectrum of earnings in the UAE. It's up to you and your efforts on where you end up. I am definitely in the bottom half....but that just means (to me) that there is a long way (up) for me to go.
I myself am looking forward to your arrival in Dubai and hope to attend one of your workshops...missed out on you last year.....didn't know what a "S T R O B I S T" was!!!
David
Look forward to seeing you there & then...
Hey Jernej,
Let me know if any of your sources inform you of a '68 Corvette - Sting Ray....(not really sure of the year and model). Since I am here in the UAE, I would love to pick up one of those....if lying around with the keys in 'em.
By the way.....the local media rubbished the reports of people leaving their cars in the airport parking lots. However, a friend of mine working at the airport confirmed that this was happening.
Now I don't know who to believe.....guess I'll have to go to the aiport and check it out for myself and use 'David Hobby' as an excuse....trying out new strobist techniques on those expensive abandoned cars out there.
...YEAH...and every big city needs a Mohammed...
Kudos to him!
Ciao
Heipel, Jernej-Brian Faini
Wow, what amazingly shallow observations on Dubai. Bet none of you have ever even been there. Have you?
Oh, and the NYT story has many inaccuracies. The 'thousands of cars' story has been debunked, for instance.
David will hopefully see less traffic on Sheikh Zayed Rd as all of the failed financiers from other countries who came to Dubai have failed to find work in Dubai as well. The place hasn't collapsed, there has been a major correction in the speculative property market (that would have happened anyway) brought on by the collapse of the US banking and finance system. So Brian Faini, if you want to talk about 'over-indulgence', look at your own country.
Hopefully with the global economic downturn hitting Dubai, I'll get less Canadian, American and Eastern European photographers emailing me asking for 'contacts' in Dubai as they want set up a business there. Thankfully, the gold rush of 'get rich quick' opportunists has dwindled.
Seriously considered Chase's workshop.. 1200 is totally doable, but the airfare and hotel cost push it over the edge for me. I'm on the cusp of dramatically increasing my equipment / facility and thus capabilities. This would force me into a dichotomy. All that knowledge would be relativly useless if I did not have the means to put it to good use. Le sigh...
Any chance Chase would be teaching a similar class here in the US.. pref westcoast.. hell Seattle is only an hour and a half away.
*hint hint*
Well, I certainly can't afford it this year, but as of today, i'm committed to saving up and going next year. Flights are $1300 or so return... +hotel / car rental, that's not the most expensive thing I could do.
Besides, I'm from canada. Any excuse to go shooting somewhere that isn't -15C is a good excuse.
Thanks for all your contribution David. Hope to meet you someday. Are you opposed to hugs from strangers?
As much as the economy is hurting, even regular blokes like myself will be looking very hard at these local events. I would be very surprised to see them not sell out quickly.
Now I just have to wait patiently for the Paso Robles date so I can try to take the time off from work.
Hi guys
I live in Dubai and, while the economy's definitely slowing down, there's still a lot going on.
Anywho, I for one will be at Gulf Photo Plus as I live in Dubai. As it happens the GPP people have their office on the same floor as me and I sometimes go around and bug them with my latest pictures :0)
I am delighted that the likes of David Hobby, Joe McNally, Chase Gardner and all the other world-class photographers agree to fly half way around the world to give us desert-dwellers some much needed culture and training.
I pretty much learned everything I now about photography at GPP 2008. I now use a lot of photography in my day job and it's been a fantastic and fun addition to my daily life. Profitable too as I sometimes sell pictures to other magazines (I'm a journalist and, now, a photo-journalist (or, at least, a journalist who takes pictures)).
Last year I came across the word 'Strobist' for the first time. Although I didn't do any Strobist courses last year (as I was too busy learning about things like aperture, ISO and shutter speed), I realised that Strobism (is that a word?) would be perfect for my day job. This year I've signed up for the Strobist courses.
I'm really looking forward to it :0)
Cheers, Jim
I'm curious as to the mix of attendees, and language issues. David, who was your audience last year?
NaturaLight.us
David,
Have a ton of fun at the event.
It goes without saying that your blog reaches all over the world, in several languages, and encompasses people of all different skill levels.
Will your lectures be available on DVD?
If you don't mind, I would like to propose a topic for the blog. I would like to see some information on building the background light. I tried to scan the archives for head shots and second lights and was wondering if you could devote some additional time on the topic (ratios/distance/grids, etc).
If you have already covered the topic in detail, I apologize in advance.
-Steve
www.esqphoto.com
Hey David,
I was just giving Jernej a link to answer his question. I think it's great you're giving seminars in locations that are more accessible to non North Americans, while offering more vacation settings for those from NA that want to attend. Me, I'm love the idea of a photo conferences in cities other than NYC or Miami :)
No projection here. I can afford it and other than timing seriously considered it precisely because I want to do one of your seminars and would prefer to do it as part of a larger event, and in, what would be for me, a vacation spot.
I think Dubai and its developments fascinating even if I DO know someone who left his (well the bank's actually) shiny new Honda at the airport when his job evaporated and he fled home to India before returning to Canada. Not sure, to anonymous' comment, how talking about how the economic situation has had an impact on Dubai is "shallow"?
Paso - SWEET, Can't wait!
Thanks,
Jonathan
www.bluephoto.biz/blog
Would like to know about the one that is going to be in Paso Robles. Is that CA? Would much like to attend if it is!
Thanks David for the plug.
Dubai has not been immune from the economic meltdown and yes, we have had a bumpy ride but we're now in decent shape. Ticket sales are good and David's courses have only a few spaces left.
We are very proud of hosting some of the world's best photographers in their respective fields and even prouder of bringing together photographers, hobbyists and enthusiasts to learn, network and enjoy themselves.
Hope to see you Strobist readers at the event and if we can be of any help to visitors who are flying in for the event, please give us a shout. We appreciate the expense and effort required to make such a trip and trust me, I've done the same and I know a little help can go a long way so feel free to give us a shout.
Mohamed
Hey, this is good news!
I live in Kenya and have been wondering how to access such learning resources. Even though I work for an airline, the cost of attending conferences and such is oft' prohibitive, mainly because they take place in the US/EU.
I didn't realise GPP even existed. Thanks David :)
PS any chance you can drop by Nairobi for a session? ;)
I cant believe you are running the Dubai one later in the month as Ill be there next week. Shame.
Do you plan to come back to London and do another one here?
Hey David, you get me over to Dubay and I'll jump off the Burj.
I bring my own foil :)
Paso Robles??? Where where where?
I would be happy to donate space in my crappy warehouse studio if need be... it's in San Luis Obispo though!
Let me know!
Unfortunately I wont be one of those attending your course in Dubai as I am attending another course that conflicts with the schedule. Certainly would love to though!
As a 2nd ...er...should I say other option I will be doign Joe McNally's lighting with small lights course.
Having yourself and other professinal photographers come over to the middle east is great as there is not a lot of options for us to learn about the craft.
As for language issues as one poster mentioned I doubt it will an issue as many will be from Europe or North America plus most people over here speak a good level of English.
Dubai is still alive, especially for all those long time expatriates who came to make a living down here. Those who are scampering away are those 'johnnies come lately'..... financial advisors and real estate brokers from the west who rushed to live the 'high life' here. Arriving one day in Dubai, renting a luxury studio apartment (rent ± $ 50,000/year) the next, and buying a porche the third day. Unfortunately all on credit, and expecting their commissions (often $ 20,000 -30,000 monthly) to cover the repayments. They lived the high life until the property market crashed due to over speculation. (Studio apartments in certain luxury towers were sold at $ 3000/sq ft.) As they are now unable to cover their debts they are running back to where-ever they came from, telling all that Dubai is dead. Property market has certainly crashed due to speculation, tourism is slow due to global recession... but does this make Dubai dead ?? No... not for anyone who wants to make a decent living. This from one who has been here for nearly 20 years
David, looking forward to attend your workshop.
PS : No SB600's or SB800's in stock anywhere in the UAE. Does this have anything to do with the workshop ?? Participants stocking up ??? :) Have to order a couple from Amazon :(
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