Looking for honest reviews of the Flashbus Tour

Both the guys are a riot. I wish I had brought my wife along as she is a beginning photographer and I think the thing would have given her a lot to think about.
I expected more action and less powerpoint from Hobby. I understand fully why he did powerpoint, as he was able to more fully break down his lighting methods on his examples, possibly he just does not prefer to do improv shoots.
McNally did several lighting setups, I have seen pictures from several TFB venues, and he did similar stuff each time, but he was using the creative muscles to make each shoot different than what he did at the other stops on the tour.

As a graduate of Strobist 101, I did not feel like Hobby was repeating his same thing. He spent a good few minutes talking about his new ventures in freelance photography, and some good suggestions for getting your photoblogs up and running and getting viewers. I think that between his somewhat recent Lighting in Layers DVD, and his other recorded and distributed work, he may be been struggling to provide new material.

I have not been the biggest follower of Joe McNally, but I think after TFB, I will be looking at his work more closely. He does TTL, which I really cannot afford presently, but I think he has some very good work and compelling arguments for working mainly in TTL.

Overall, I felt the whole day was an excellent experience. I was a V.A.L., so I arrived really early and helped stuff SWAG bags and assisted with check-in. I thought this was a good experience as well because we got to chill with Joe and David a little bit, and we got front-row seats.

I went to one of the Joe Mcnally lectures. I don't recommend it and I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. I bought one of his books however. I'd rather spend it on the book instead.

What does that have to do with the flashbus tour? Joe was actually very good at the event..

rikaro wrote in post #12247938
I went to one of the Joe Mcnally lectures. I don't recommend it and I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. I bought one of his books however. I'd rather spend it on the book instead.

I'd rather spend the money on lens. actually that's what I did.

sorry Joe

rikaro wrote in post #12247938
I went to one of the Joe Mcnally lectures. I don't recommend it and I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. I bought one of his books however. I'd rather spend it on the book instead.

Really? I thought he was a good speaker and he was just bursting at the seams with random stories and bits of info. There's some crossover to be sure, but there was a lot of different info mentioned that isn't directly out of his books

Flashbus Tour

Wow, what a scam. Proves again, that the serious money in photography is not in photography itself, but selling the ideas of photography. What a concept. This reminds me so much of Scott Kelby and the whole Photoshop training economy.

300 people at $100 a pop, that's $30,000. That is an outrageous amount of money to pay a couple of guys for 6 hours of work. Think about this: these guys are pulling down 2500 dollars an hour spouting off information that is already available for free. Yeah, I bet they don't mind giving away of few $50 CF cards. Let's see, 29 cities at say 250 people average, they're each gonna haul away $362,500 for a six week "tour".

Boss302 wrote in post #12250324
Wow, what a scam. Proves again, that the serious money in photography is not in photography itself, but selling the ideas of photography. What a concept. This reminds me so much of Scott Kelby and the whole Photoshop training economy.

300 people at $100 a pop, that's $30,000. That is an outrageous amount of money to pay a couple of guys for 6 hours of work. Think about this: these guys are pulling down 2500 dollars an hour spouting off information that is already available for free. Yeah, I bet they don't mind giving away of few $50 CF cards. Let's see, 29 cities at say 250 people average, they're each gonna haul away $362,500 for a six week "tour".

Wow.......The bus ran free. The venue's allowed them to just show up and pack in people and didnt charge for the use and cleanup. The assistants and employees all donated their time. I am amazed there wasnt any overhead at all. Thanks for the info and the heads up!!! What a SCAM!!!

tammy@4K wrote in post #12250390
Wow.......The bus ran free. The venue's allowed them to just show up and pack in people and didnt charge for the use and cleanup. The assistants and employees all donated their time. I am amazed there wasnt any overhead at all. Thanks for the info and the heads up!!! What a SCAM!!!

My thoughts exactly.

tammy@4K wrote in post #12250390
Wow.......The bus ran free. The venue's allowed them to just show up and pack in people and didnt charge for the use and cleanup. The assistants and employees all donated their time. I am amazed there wasnt any overhead at all. Thanks for the info and the heads up!!! What a SCAM!!!

I'm sure their families didn't miss them one little bit during the 6 week tour either! and their regular businesses just waited on them to come home before booking in and helping them pay for their mortgages!

Staszek wrote in post #12250690
My thoughts exactly.

pcj wrote in post #12251586
I'm sure their families didn't miss them one little bit during the 6 week tour either! and their regular businesses just waited on them to come home before booking in and helping them pay for their mortgages!

Well I mean damn, I'm blonde and I don't say stuff like he did. But yeah, families, $5 a gallon diesel, (we could make a list a mile long).....so when did it become a scam to finally get paid for being the best at what you do?

I didn't go to the tour stop near me, but I read McNallys books, blogs, and thank God for Strobist 101. How's that for a free career right at your fingertips?

Boss302 wrote in post #12250324
Wow, what a scam. Proves again, that the serious money in photography is not in photography itself, but selling the ideas of photography. What a concept. This reminds me so much of Scott Kelby and the whole Photoshop training economy.

300 people at $100 a pop, that's $30,000. That is an outrageous amount of money to pay a couple of guys for 6 hours of work. Think about this: these guys are pulling down 2500 dollars an hour spouting off information that is already available for free. Yeah, I bet they don't mind giving away of few $50 CF cards. Let's see, 29 cities at say 250 people average, they're each gonna haul away $362,500 for a six week "tour".

Wow. just wow. I guess you have never worked in the business world.

First, they have like 8 people total on the tour, so even if David and Joe make more than the others, you have to figure that everyone is getting paid decent to be away from home for more than a month.
Once in a while they have to get a few hotel rooms for the night so everyone can have a nice shower and not be smelly and grumpy for the seminars.
Now show me 29 nice convention venues in major cities that will provide seating for 300+, as well as good lighting and AV, for free.
Now show me a magic bus that runs on hopes and dreams, and does not need to be rented/bought. I figure they spent at lease $15k on diesel, probably more.


All said and done these guys are probably making decent money, but shouldn't they be allowed to? They are good at what they do. If you can love something and get rich doing it, I say good for them.

The Flash Bus was a great and INSPIRING experience. That's really the only thing that anyone should have expected to take away from it. You can't get some in depth master class in lighting in a room full of hundreds of people in 6-8 hours.

I loved watching David Hobby go through a step by step process for so many different scenarios. Showing before, after, and in between shots and really allowing for an understanding of the thought process and thought progression for these shots. Hobby discussing his philosophy on client relationships and his personal duty to his community made me want to come back home and seek out opportunities for that kind of symbiotic relationship.

It was also great watching McNally live shoot all afternoon. To watch him make mistakes and improvise corrections was truly inspiring and when I left I thought "that's what it means to be great, not to get each shot right the first time, but to be able to assess the results and the scenario and instantly conceive of a solution."

Those are the things that I took away from it. If you've never taken your flash off the camera will you get something out of it? Yeah, sure. But I think that's not really the point, or at least, not the essence of what the real value of this event is all about. There's nothing magical or mystical about changing flash power, or flash exposure compensation, or the difference between big soft light and small hard light. There was wisdom in the dialogue that fell in between the technical information.

Furner wrote in post #12253322
Wow. just wow. I guess you have never worked in the business world.

First, they have like 8 people total on the tour, so even if David and Joe make more than the others, you have to figure that everyone is getting paid decent to be away from home for more than a month.
Once in a while they have to get a few hotel rooms for the night so everyone can have a nice shower and not be smelly and grumpy for the seminars.
Now show me 29 nice convention venues in major cities that will provide seating for 300+, as well as good lighting and AV, for free.
Now show me a magic bus that runs on hopes and dreams, and does not need to be rented/bought. I figure they spent at lease $15k on diesel, probably more.

All said and done these guys are probably making decent money, but shouldn't they be allowed to? They are good at what they do. If you can love something and get rich doing it, I say good for them.

I agree.

This thread is a reverse of the threads where photographers complain when someone asks why they charge so much "just to push a button" ?

$99 to hear these guys speak was reasonable. Why do you pay to go to a concert when you can just buy the artists CD/download.

Mike R wrote in post #12255050
I agree.

This thread is a reverse of the threads where photographers complain when someone asks why they charge so much "just to push a button" ?

$99 to hear these guys speak was reasonable. Why do you pay to go to a concert when you can just buy the artists CD/download.

I don't know. You can see the Rolling Stones for $35

But you can buy a Rolling Stones concert CD for $8

Or download a Rolling Stones MP3 for free

My friend went

http://iamunique127.bl​ogspot.com …/flash-bus-tour-2011.html