The tour has begun!  Casey and I (and our lawn gnome) cleared our calendars, packed our bags, and headed out to start the tour on Saturday!  The first stop was the home of the world’s best bar-b-que, Kansas City, and in the 100+ temperatures, myself and all the students felt like bar-b-que as well!  The name “Flashfire” was fitting because I felt like I was going to spontaneously combust at any minute.  Despite the heat we had a great workshop and everyone got some epic images.  Thanks to all the students who made it possible, the models who braved the heat, and my wife Casey for doing hair and make-up!

Now here is a small selection of my favorites!

I showed the students how I do my light trail images.  Sometimes less is more.

Demonstrating how to overpower the sun with flash!

Casey stepped in as my model for a few shots

This shot was taken with JUST ONE FLASH!

We are taking are lawn gnome on tour with us and we are going to try and take a picture of him in every city.  Here’s the first, haha.

SmugMug is our major sponsor for the tour so I’m also going to be speaking at all the SMUG Meetups in each city the night before the workshop.  I didn’t shoot much but here are a few quick pics I took of Casey.

Be sure to check the post below for all the tour dates.  The next stop is Chicago!  Find out more and register at www.flashfireworkshops.com

Remember that big announcement I’ve been talking about on Facebook?  (You know, the one everybody assumed was that we were having a baby, haha.)

Well, here it is…

Casey and I are going on tour!

I’ve launched a new workshop called Flashfire Workshops! It is a one day speedlight bootcamp focused on not only mastering the technical aspects of shooting with flash, but also how to see your world in a new light and turn ordinary scenes into extraordinary photographs.  Check out the website for all the info by clicking here -> www.flashfireworkshops.com

This all came about because my friends and major sponsor, SmugMug, wanted to do something exciting for their user groups.  I took a shot in the dark and proposed that they start sending me to all their groups to teaching them about working with flash.  Well, much to my surprise (and excitement) they were all for it!  I’d be going from group to group giving a 2-3 hour talk/demonstration of my off-camera flash techniques, showing how you can shoot anywhere and make it look cool with just a couple of little speedlights.  That got me thinking, if I’m going to be in all these cities, why not just do a workshop in each one?

That’s when Flashfire was born.

Now I travel all the time with SHOOTERS and Life. Camera. Actions. and I have a love hate relationship with it (the traveling, not my other companies, haha.)  I love getting to see new places and experience new things, but I hate it when I’m away from Casey.  As long as we are together if feels like home.  For this tour I’m going to be hitting 10 cities in 6 weeks and then leaving for another week immediately afterwards to go to Argentina to put on a SHOOTERS Workshop.  That’s a long time to be away from Casey so I gave her a choice – she could either come with me on the tour and be my hair and make-up artist with the models or I could just stay home.  I wasn’t going to do it without her.  It was a really tough decision for her because she hated the thought of missing 6 weeks of work and wondering if her clients would be mad at her.  But in the end, very few people get opportunities like this and it would be foolish to pass this up.  Plus we get to have this crazy experience of traveling the country together, meeting tons of amazing new people, and doing something unique that we will always look back on.  Plus she should have some pretty interesting stories for her clients when she gets home!  (and I bought her an airbrush makeup kit)

What is even more exciting is that this tour is just the beginning.  I already have plans for a couple more tours in the US and Canada for 2012!

So photographers, check out the schedule below.  I’ll be giving the free “mini-workshop” to all the SMUG groups (and anyone can attend those.  You don’t have to be a SMUG member!)  The following day will be the full day speedlight workshop which you can register for at www.flashfireworkshops.com (and you need to hurry because space is limited and I already have people who are driving up to 7 hours to come to some of these!)

Here’s the schedule!

July 31st – Kansas City SMUG
August 1st – Kansas City Flashfire Workshop
August 3rd – St. Louis SMUG
August 4th – St. Louis Flashfire Workshop
August 9th – Chicago SMUG
August 10th – Chicago Flashfire Workshop
August 14th – Detroit SMUG
August 15th – Detroit Flashfire Workshop
August 17th – Cincinnati SMUG
August 18th - Cincinnati Flashfire Workshop
August 21st – Louisville SMUG
August 22nd – Louisville Flashfire Workshop
August 24th - Atlanta SMUG
August 25th - Atlanta Flashfire Workshop
August 28th – Knoxville SMUG
August 29th – Knoxville Flashfire Workshop
August 31st - Nashville SMUG
September 1st - Nashville Flashfire Workshop
September 6th – Memphis SMUG
September 7th – Memphis Flashfire Workshop

Note to my clients!

I won’t be taking any sessions from July 30th to September 20th so if you are interested in having your pictures taken this summer, book now!  If your wedding falls during the tour schedule, don’t worry.  I have set it up so I’ll be home to photograph your wedding, haha.

Also there is a rumor going around that I’m not doing weddings or seniors anymore which isn’t true.  I’m splitting my time between teaching photography and doing photography.  Teaching makes me a better photographer, which means you get better images.

Note to members of SMUG User Groups!

Because SmugMug is sponsoring this tour, you’ll have access to an exclusive discount for the full day workshop.  Contact your local SMUG leader for the promo code and more info!

To find a SMUG User Group near you, check out this link.