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So here we are 2013!

January 11, 2013 – 16:11

That last twelve months went like a blast. So many things has happened, so many old and new faces we have met!
It was a really good year!

But it wasn’t an easy one, by no means.

My wife always says that there is a lot of technical info but not much of personal bits.
So there you go…

Whatever your goals are, I always say that it is the route and the way how you are handling the stuff you are force to face, the most important thing.
In that pursuit for success you can easily loose the balance. I know because it happened to me before…

From all the feelings, I am most of all grateful for the past 12 months.

I am grateful for every single visit from almost half a million so far on this blog!
Cheers Guys! That makes writing these post so worthwhile.

Photography took us to so many places like Australia, USA and Europe – we have met new and caught up with old friends. I am so grateful for that!

Some of you noticed that during the first half of the year the blog was more quiet than usual.
Like everyone else I experienced great high and low moments and they all matters.

First from two most significant to me was that after 12 years of being with my beloved Ola, we finally got married.
We were blessed with a beautiful day full of love from our family and friends.
It was really worth the wait!

Second was watching my mother’s inspiring battle with cancer. It wasn’t and still it is not easy for her, but witnessing her humble and optimistic approach in facing every single day is something that will stay with me for life. I am really proud of my mom!

Staying positive and full of love and passion in the toughest times is probably the greatest legacy that you could inherit.

I feel enormously empowered by this year events, and I am focused like never before. We have grand plans and amazing concepts ready to make reality.

There shouldn’t be anything that can stop you from making your dreams come true. Just go for it!
And this year is going to be all about just that!

Once again, Thank You for reading it means a lot to us!

All the best for 2013!

Jaroslav

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I put a Spell On You! …Mixed Lighting Setup

December 17, 2012 – 11:56

Today I will give you an insight to our up and coming project, called “Girl With The Broken Heart” which I am really excited about.

It is one of these cases when despite advanced prep work, the whole venture had to be put on hold…
The Storeyboard and other drafted elements were sitting in the drawer for over two years, but today we are up and running.
And it looks like nothing can stop us!

So what is happening with the project at the moment?
Well… “Girl With The Broken Heart” is a Fantasy tale about an aching girl with a mysterious wizardry ancestors…
The girl possess powers she is not aware of and one of them is ability to harness the fire…

I think you are getting the picture, so let’s get back to photography!
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Our goal is to achieve the fiery effect, without use of Photoshop and without the need of exposing our model to the real flames.
To endow our witch with flames I came up with alternative version of the costume.
I thought that feathers could successfully mimic a fire…

… it took me over 8hours to put this headpiece together. Taking under consideration that every single feather was glued individually I am happy with that mock-up.

To achieve a mentioned effect I decided to use a mixed lighting technique, where we will use a fast flash duration – for freezing the subject – with a modelling light as a continuous light source to burn the movement.
To complement the scene we used a photographic gel.

Here is a short video from the test shoot:

This technique has a really exciting potential! You can apply this effect to many different photography genres, like sports or bridal.

Knowing the basics on how to match the colour of your light sources i.e. flash – close to daylight white balance and continuous – tungsten is essential.
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You can do that very precisely by using right correction gel from online colour charts:

To capture a burning light trail effect you need to take two more factors under consideration:
– a long exposure
– and movement

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During over one second exposure, using for left rim light a continuous warm modelling light hitting models head and back, you can ask the model to move or just shake the camera…

You will need a few takes to get used to, but try to experiment because it is well worth the effort!

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We will keep you posted about this and other projects, and hopefully soon we will set a date for the actual shooting day!

All the best
Jaroslav

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*** Workshops ***

MILK Workshops in AUSTRALIA 2013!
Book your place now, here: >>>BOOKING PAGE

BRISBANE Nov 23-24 2013
MELBOURNE Nov 27-28 2013
SYDNEY Nov 30-Dec 1 2013

My best regards
Jaroslav

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Milk Workshop in Hollywood 2012- Summary

December 14, 2012 – 06:51

Our Californication i.e 2012 AurumLight first USA Workshop! What an event that was!

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who made the effort and travelled to Hollywood for both events!
I was pleasantly surprised when the workshop sold out after only two hours from the announcement!

We met our regular readers and a whole bunch of new faces who made the whole trip absolutely worthwhile and enjoyable!
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Secondary, we are very grateful to our good friends from The Bui Brothers – Lan and his crew who put a lot of time and effort to make these events run smoothly. It wouldn’t have been possible without them,
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Thirdly – Kudos to our great supporters from Phase One and Paul C Buff.
It is amazing to have such fantastic partners – thanks to them we able to provide high end gear experience for our attendees, not to mention free Capture One software and many other giveaways!
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And last but not least – The Events were hosted by EVS Studios in Hollywood and all the props were provided by Greg Aronowitz.

So to everyone above, Cheers for your time, support and making these workshops our best training events to date!
We enjoyed our California experience so much that we have already pencilled down a dates for 2013…
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So how was it?

Started with know how presentation and sharing my approach, methodology and the secrets you need to know!

… then the fun time… messing around with gallons of milk … dozens of gallons!
During our stay with our participants we accomplished fifteen liquid shoots…

[Click image to Enlarge]

Thanks to our friends at Phase One we could use the best gear available on the market!
Regular readers knows that PhaseOne P65+ is my go-to camera when it comes to bigger scale projects. But for this one we got a exceptional Phase One IQ180

And here is the final effects of one of the shoots we did in front of a hyped, creative crowd.

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I mentioned Phase One IQ180… and it’s incredible detail:
100% Crop [Click image to Enlarge]

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*** Workshops ***

MILK Workshops in AUSTRALIA 2013!
Book your place now, here: >>>BOOKING PAGE

BRISBANE Nov 23-24 2013
MELBOURNE Nov 27-28 2013
SYDNEY Nov 30-Dec 1 2013

My best regards
Jaroslav

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Lighting For Liquid Series – EINSTEIN STRIKES BACK

October 8, 2012 – 13:23

Hey Guys!

We are almost ready for our AUSTRALIA Milk Workshops 2013 next month, but before the take-off we have a quick test on Lighting For Liquids and a bonus sneak peek into the set of our Bamboo Forest Shoot for The Liquid Series!

In this test we will check that our Einsteins can compete and deliver the same results as a high-end lighting gear…

Some time ago I saw a video featuring Bronco Scoro and Profoto Pro 8 Air called “A Real World Shootout” featuring a test of the flash duration of both systems.

You can find that video here [click].

While watching it I couldn’t help myself thinking…
“… wait a minute, this can be easily done with our 20-times less expensive lights!”

So when we worked on our new Babmboo Forrest Shoot for the Liquid series, I decided to run a quick Video Response to the Real World Shootout using Paul Buff’s Einstein E640.

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The Setup:
We’ve replicated the set and like on the reference video set the camera Phase One P65+ with 110 Shneider lens to f/16.
The Fill light is a bare head bounced from the white board at 1/32power and the Main – 22” Silver beauty dish set to 1/16th

As expected in that scenario Einstein delivered an action stopping flash duration T0.1 = 1/10410 of a second!
What’s really cool is that all data you might need while freezing the liquid is displayed on a neat LCD screen at the back of the head.

The results are below, and it wasn’t any surprise that Einstein E640 handled the test effortlessly!

50% Crop:

My conclusion and what I am really trying to say here – is that the test like that shootout doesn’t proof anything and I can hardly find it helpful to justify spending over $12000 for just a pack, especially when you realise that this is an equivalent of 24 Einstein heads …
… Dear God! What a crazy set I could lit with that arsenal !?

And that is a perfect punch line!

Companies with that calibre and expensive equipment should know and do much better than this, always try to push the boundary and come up with unbelievable concepts!
Come on! We need a bigger challenge than that!

Meanwhile in London…

The Bamboo Forest Shoot for The Liquid Series:

That is how we roll at AurumLight ;-]

You can see a 1 minute BTS sneak peek video at the end of the above Video Response.
While using massive mods, increasing significantly power level and the distance between the lights and the subject we were still able to get a freezing flash duration.

The Setup:
For that Project we used three Einsteins 640 in 2 Giant Strip Softboxes 200x40cm and 64” Paul Buff PLM – Parabolic Light Modifier.
I seriously love the PLM – it provides such an even and efficient beam of light that you can light your subject from a really far away!
It is also affordable which makes it a must-have for me.
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Lady In Red…

Credits:
Model: Jay Jessop
Hair & Make-Up: Katrina Betts
Concept & Design: Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz
Photography: Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz
Assistants: Ben Prewett, Aleksandra Wieczorkiewicz, Bartek Rzeczkowski

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MILK Workshops 2014!
Book your place now, here: >>>BOOKING PAGE

5-6 April 2014 – London, United Kingdom
17-18 May 2014 – Frankfurt, Germany

My best regards
Jaroslav

Posted in Conceptual, Liquids, Milk, Test Shoot, Uncategorized | Comments (24)

USA – Milk Workshop – October 2012

August 24, 2012 – 13:30

Yes! After months of preparations the trip is finally and officially happening!!

Some time ago I was invited to California by my good friends and awesome filmmakers The Bui Brothers to be a guest presenter and run an edition of our Liquid Workshops!

Since then we have worked together on several projects all over Europe, but for a very long time we couldn’t match our calendars… until now.

Today, everything is fixed, dates and venues are secured and we are going to make a splash on the West Coast!

*** Edit *** As expected the first event Sold-Out almost instantly!
And to meet an overwhelming demand we have decided to organise an additional event:
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16th October – Milky Seminar + Live MilkShoot

Proceed to Booking Page >>

During the hyped 8 hours we will give all our heart and soul and will cover.
You will get to know everything from our workflow from start to finish.

Our Partners
I am very happy to let you know that for this event the IQ180 camera system is provided by PhaseOne, and the Lighting Equipment by PaulCBuff Inc.

If you would like to join us please book your seat asap to avoid disappointment – First Come First Served!

Agenda:

9:30 – 9:40 Meet & Greet

PANEL 1
9:40 – 11:30 Open with an Overview Presentation:
– Covering “know how”,
– Photo and Lighting gear
– Tools for Milk forms,
– Approach and a deconstruction of the previous images,

11:30 – 11:45 Questions & Answers
11:45 – 11:55 Coffee Break

PANEL 2
12:00 – 13:30 Full Liquid Photoshoot:
– Setting up and principals when working with Liquids,
– How to position your lights and explore how to use three-dimensional lighting effects
– Showing how to get the right results,
– Working with a model and assistants,

13:30 – 13:45 Questions & Answers
13:45 – 13:55 Coffee Break

PANEL 3
14:00 – 17:15 Post-Production Session:
– An overview presentation – explaining approach to the liquid post-process
– Work through the post-production of the taken photographs up to the Final Milky Illustration,
– Get to know recipes, tips and techniques for bringing the whole shoot together.

17:15 – 17:30 Questions & Answers

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We will shoot at EVS Studios in North Hollywood, California.

More Information/Enquiries:
> Need more info? Got a question? Please check The Booking Page or drop us a line on email Workshops@AurumLight.com and we’ll get right back to you.

To give you a little teaser of what might happen, please enjoy Jay Jessop in our latest work Jay vs Jay.

More about that piece and BTS material next week.
And now after a very busy week and absolutely smashing Workshop in Frankfurt we are off to Venice to recover and get ready to bring you more awesome stuff!

Please watch that space.

Cheers
Jaroslav @AurumLight Team

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You might also like:

*** Workshops ***

MILK Workshops in AUSTRALIA 2013!
Book your place now, here: >>>BOOKING PAGE

BRISBANE Nov 23-24 2013
MELBOURNE Nov 27-28 2013
SYDNEY Nov 30-Dec 1 2013

My best regards
Jaroslav

Posted in Conceptual, Graphics, Liquids, Milk, Models, Workshops & Events | Comments (3)

THE TRIAL – Calendar UK – Gold Medal – Prix de la Photographie Paris 2012

July 10, 2012 – 16:04

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WINNER OF PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris

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We are very happy to announce that our calendar THE TRIAL have been Awarded First Prize – Gold medal in category Advertising at “Prix de la Photographie Paris 2012”.
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The jury selected PX3 2012’s winners from thousands of photography entries from over 85 countries.

The exhibition opens on Tuesday 10th of JULY at Espace Dupont Gallery, Paris.

Many thanks to all those involved!
Jaroslav
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Please check out “THE TRIAL” our conceptual shoot for a trade calendar HERE >>>

For Behind The Scenes video and to see how it was done please click HERE >>>
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ABOUT Px3:
Px3 is juried by top international decision-makers in the photography industry: Carol Johnson, Curator of Photography of Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; Gilles Raynaldy, Director of Purpose, Paris; Viviene Esders, Expert près la Cour d’Appel de Paris; Mark Heflin, Director of American Illustration + American Photography, New York; Sara Rumens, Lifestyle Photo Editor of Grazia Magazine, London; Françoise Paviot, Director of Galerie Françoise Paviot, Paris; Chrisitine Ollier, Art Director of Filles du Calvaire, Paris; Natalie Johnson, Features Editor of Digital Photographer Magazine, London; Natalie Belayche, Director of Visual Delight, Paris; Kenan Aktulun, VP/Creative Director of Digitas, New York; Chiara Mariani, Photo Editor of Corriere della Sera Magazine, Italy; Arnaud Adida, Director of Acte 2 Gallery/Agency, Paris; Jeannette Mariani, Director of 13 Sévigné Gallery, Paris; Bernard Utudjian, Director of Galerie Polaris, Paris; Agnès Voltz, Director of Chambre Avec Vues, Paris; and Alice Gabriner, World Picture Editor of Time Magazine, New York.

Cheers
Jaroslav
www.AurumLight.com
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