Zack's back with Creative Light

Hi guys,

Just stumbled accross new CreativeLive with Zack Arias. Totally by accident. Saw the last one and am so happy I won't miss this one.

http://www.creativeliv​e.com/live

Even more basic than last time.... Day 1-Aperture, Shutter, and Lens selection.
He said he's stretching a 1 hour lecture in to a 3 day class. The last workshop included that 1 hour lecture....
He's a great educator, but I'm not sure this is anything that anyone beyond a starter will get much out of.

I know what you mean, but still I think there are loads of people who will be happy to watch it and firm up their starter knowledge. Plus it's all free of charge.

I would love to see more advanced stuff though.

Yeah, its prettty much all basic stuff... but its entertaining to watch to refresh your memory

Thanks for the link. Not overly impressed though. He comes across as a real nice guy, and I'm sure that he's a capable photographer, but he definitely needs to work on his presentation skills. Just no wow factor from someone who supposedly is trying to make his living lecturing about photography.

Too many people today are trying to jump on the photography lecture circuit to make money, and from what I've seem most of them need to take some classes in effective presentation.

He makes a big deal about knowing your craft, he should follow his own instructions.

Pinto wrote in post #12319406
Thanks for the link. Not overly impressed though. He comes across as a real nice guy, and I'm sure that he's a capable photographer, but he definitely needs to work on his presentation skills. Just no wow factor from someone who supposedly is trying to make his living lecturing about photography.

Too many people today are trying to jump on the photography lecture circuit to make money, and from what I've seem most of them need to take some classes in effective presentation.

He makes a big deal about knowing your craft, he should follow his own instructions.

^^^
Obviously did not watch the entire days session...

JayCee Images wrote in post #12319569
^^^
Obviously did not watch the entire days session...

Well, I got into it some time after the start but I watched probably four hours of it. Quite enough to make a fair evaluation. And, by the way, I went into it wanting to be wowed, so I wasn't at all biased.

If you are new to photography he probably came across stronger.

Pinto wrote in post #12319406
he definitely needs to work on his presentation skills. Just no wow factor from someone who supposedly is trying to make his living lecturing about photography.

His first creativelive workshop was great. And I think he's one of the better teachers who have done creativelive...topped by vincent laforet though...

Pinto wrote in post #12319603
Well, I got into it some time after the start but I watched probably four hours of it. Quite enough to make a fair evaluation. And, by the way, I went into it wanting to be wowed, so I wasn't at all biased.

If you are new to photography he probably came across stronger.

Everybody reacts differently to different presentation approaches. I love his easy going approach. It's not high intensity how fast can I talk like Joe McNally or a Jasmine Star..

Its hard to be WOW'ed with info you should already know. No matter how good the instructor is. I watched for a while and got bored out of my mind and left to watch the grass grow. But seriously, I think his description of 1 hour lecture over 3 days is pretty accurate. Everything I watched could have been a 10 minute conversation, even with a beginner. And it undeniably was for beginners, as evident by the questions that were coming in.

I like Zack and his teaching style. But this should have been the class they started the whole creative live thing with. Not a year in. It does not make much sense to have an intermediate studio class, DSLR video class, then a while later have the " This is a camera, it takes pictures" class.

I think you guys are missing the point of this workshop...

It is "need to know information" on running a successful photography business, which includes the basics. As Zack stated in the intro, there are MANY "pros" out there who don't even have a firm grasp of basic fundamentals, yet are booking jobs and making money. There are poor photographers that are outstanding business owners, just as there are outstanding photographers that are poor business owners. He is merely covering all aspects, from start to finish trying to give you a happy medium somewhere in the middle of being good at both photography and business.

Yes, a lot of the information was basic, entry level stuff from todays session. If you are expecting nothing but top level, advanced information, you're going to be disappointed. However, making comments as a whole about the entire workshop based off of the first of three days is a bit ridiculous.

Here's my take.

I've enjoyed watching Zack Arias over the last few years. I was motivated and inspired by his One Light DVD and felt that his down to earth approach was great. He's not a polished clinician and that works for him, as I believe it makes him very approachable and more of a regular guy than some of the celebrity photographers that do workshops or sell DVD's.

I like that he doesn't claim to know everything and doesn't try to explain the technical things that he doesn't understand. Again, I think this works for him. If he doesn't know the answer he has no problem admitting it and that's a great quality.

I think that part of the reason people are a little disappointed in this weekend's workshop is that they made the incorrect assumption that this was going to be a continuation or followup to his last workshop and they want to think that each time he does a workshop or presentation it's going to be bigger and better and more amazing. That's not the case.

I caught some things that were a little confusing and some incorrect terminology but all in all, he's offering a pretty good basic photography workshop that covers a wide range of topics, including how to make a business of photography and all that it entails beyond just knowing how to take a great photograph, but the focus always comes back to having good technique and knowledge as the foundation for being successful.

Having said all that, this current workshop does look like the budget was cut and has an even less polished look and feel to it. That has nothing to do with the quality and content of the information but psychologically it does have a somewhat negative effect.

I still think that Zack is a valuable educator in the world of photography and that those that want this type of workshop are going to get a lot from it.

I'm trying to watch this, but the stream keeps crapping out on me. Either they have more viewers than they expected, or they want to make sure it's crappy enough that you have to buy it.

From what I can see, it's pretty good.

thenextguy wrote in post #12322767
I'm trying to watch this, but the stream keeps crapping out on me. Either they have more viewers than they expected, or they want to make sure it's crappy enough that you have to buy it.

From what I can see, it's pretty good.

running fine for me at the moment, always liked his presentations

Today is one big glitching nightmare.