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Not long ago I conducting my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop with the Pacific Northwest School of Art on Whidbey Island, and a big part of my workshop deals with what I call Chasing the Light. As in all my workshops I encourage shooting in the Golden Hour. This refers to the time right after sunrise, and the time right before sunset. In the forty-two years of being an advertising and corporate photographer, I can safely say that 75% of every photograph (outdoors of course) I’ve taken during that span of time has been shot during these hours.

I tell my students that LIGHT IS EVERYTHING; you find the light and you’ll find the shot.  When we’re out on location together, I help my students gain a better understanding and sensitivity to light as it affects all the elements on their Artist Palette…which I also give them during the workshop.

The light is just softer, warmer, and prettier. Notwithstanding the fact that the shadows become dominant and long, and as I always tell my students…”SHADOWS ARE OUR BEST FRIEND”.  They should be embraced, not feared as some would have you believe. For one thing, Form, being a basic element of visual design, comes to us with only two dimensions: height and width. It’s the shadows that add Depth, the third dimension.

After scouting Deception Pass with my Sunpath readings and my Morin 2000 hand bearing compass before the workshop started, I knew where there would be a glow in the water as a result of being backlit I took the class there to shoot, but before we went we gathered a couple of props to be used after the sun had set over the water, hiding all the beautiful scenery one will find there.

The photograph above is one that was taken by an online student. He and his girlfriend came over from his home in the Netherlands to take my workshop.

A really nice photograph, and an even better model. That would be me!!!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe.  Check out the workshop schedules I put at the top of this blog. They fill fairly quick then I take the description down. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB