The last meetup of Strobist fans in Switzerland took place last weekend at the EPFL technical college in Lausanne. After organizing the event and arranging models for the day, around 30 photographers turned up and from the feedback I’ve heard so far, everyone had a great time and all learned new things, whether related to the use of off-camera flash or simply how to better organize and instruct models. I shan’t bear a grudge against Valérie, whose photos remind us all that while flash illumination can produce some pretty cool effects, it’s not always necessary. (Valérie’s photos from the day were all shot without the use of artificial lighting.)
Along with five other experienced photographers, I worked with groups in the morning and afternoon, putting together lighting and location ideas. It was a refreshing change to work with volunteer male model Scott in the morning, as most of the volunteers I’ve photographed over the past couple of years have been women. In the afternoon, I’d hoped to work with one of the bands which were in attendance but it turned out that another group leader had already planned shots with a group in mind. The group I was working with therefore had the assistance of Hacer, who posed under our instruction amongst an unusual and large sculpture in the grounds of the campus. The biggest challenge of all for these shots was to remove a considerable amount of dirt from the sculpture using Photoshop during the editing process. :-)
All of the photos in this set were created in collaboration, which is a great way of coming up with new and unusual ideas, as well as an even better way of coming up with solutions to problems. Thanks to Niall, Margot, Shawn, Radu, John, Matthias, Scott and Hacer for working together with me to create this great set of photos. I’ll be looking forward to the next meetup in Spring next year.
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