Jerry Ghionis and my AHA MOMENT
If you are reading this, you are obviously a follower of my “Updates” page. You might or might not be a photographer but if you are you have probably heard the name Jerry Ghionis. If you haven’t please pull yourself out from under the rock you are living under and look him and his work up. He is truly exceptional not only as a photographer but as a personas well. Ok.. here we go…
I have been a photographer for a few years now and this weekend was my third PhotoCon. For those that don’t know what PhotoCon is… It is a three day photography event held in Oklahoma City every year and is put on by our local camera store… Bedford’s Camera. Each year they bring in a group of speakers to talk about different areas of photography ranging from astro, wildlife, portrait as well as other speakers that present issues like photography in social media and how to use it and making your portrait client comfortable.. plus a lot more.. you get the pictures.
In the world of photography my biggest obstacle is and has been lighting… how to use and when to use. I tend to not use it and focus on natural lighting which has truly held me back from being the best photographer I can be. Natural light is one type of light but there are others that need to be used to bring out the best in what a photographer does and supplies his or her clients.
This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday I spent the day going to different classes and listening to all the great training but there were two I was especially looking forward to. Friday night with Joel Grimes and Saturday night with Jerry Ghionis.
First let’s talk about Joe Grimes… Like I said above if you don’t know who Joel Grimes is and you are a photographer please once again pull yourself out from under the rock you are living under and look him up. Joel Grimes is truly amazing, not only as a teacher but as a person. We spoke at length one day in the Trade Show and he was engaged and gave amazing insight. His presentation Friday evening was insightful and I learned a huge amount. He’s truly a great guy and speaker.
Second, we move on to the subject of this update, Jerry Ghionis… My first time to hear Jerry Ghionis speak was two years ago at my first PhotoCon. He was great and I learned a good amount from his talk. I also purchased his additional class at that PhotoCon so I got a double dose of Jerry! After attending Jerry’s PhotoCon presentations I decided to purchas some of his online training classes. Just like his presentations I heard that first year, they were great as well. When I heard that Jerry was going to be back at PhotoCon this year I was excited to get the opportunity to hear from him again. This year as I was sitting in Joel’s Friday night presentation, Jerry and his wife Melissa came in, sat down and listened like the rest of us. Huh?? Jerry Ghionis is here listening to Joel? What can Jerry learn from another photographer because his work is magical. Well.. in my opinion we are always students of our craft and always learning. I am always striving to learn something. So.. Jerry and Melissa sat in Joel presentation and listened like the rest of us. After Joel’s presentation I waited in the long line to say hi to Jerry and I quickly told him about my conversation with him two years prior at my first PhotoCon. Story in the next paragraph. All that to say, Jerry is an amazingly down to earth guy that is easily approachable as is his wife Melissa. They are truly great people.
Now for the story. Two years ago at my first PhotoCon I was struggling with a particular part of my photography and how people were commenting about it. A few people were truly mean and hateful towards me and my animal photography. After Jerry’s talk I stood in line behind the mass of people wanting to talk to him and we spoke for about two to three minutes. I went through my story and the things people were commenting about and his response was F ‘em. There was a little more to it than that but that’s how the conversation started. We talked about what was going on and he gave me some great insight after the F ‘em comment. I thanked him and walked away and Jerry probably didn’t think much more of it. I did and it was something I needed at the time. I’m sure I’m not going out on too much of a limb to say that with the huge number of people Jerry speaks to at these conferences that he gives advice and moves on and doesn’t really know the impact he makes. I’m here to tell you Jerry, you make a huge impact on people’s lives and career. That cold night in November 2021 I took his advice, ignored the haters and did what I wanted to do and it’s worked for me. Jerry’s talk with me meant a huge amount.
Fast forward to this year’s PhotoCon - (Two Years Later). As each session passed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday I kept looking forward to hearing Jerry speak and was wondering what it would be on this year. I knew it would be good but what was ahead I couldn’t have anticipated.
Fast Forward… Saturday night finally arrived and I got a front row seat for Jerry’s 2 hour presentation. As he started it was apparent he was going to talk about lighting. I was excited to hear what he had to say as he is the KING OF LIGHTING. Not only was I excited but I was thinking Ugh… he’s talking about lighting and I am a lighting idiot. Maybe the great Jerry Ghionis will dumb it down for someone like me. Jerry used a slide show of some of his images that focused on light and he talked about each one and how he arrived at the final image and included some videos as well. The two hours flew by and I was in awe of what I was not only seeing on the screen but in the words that Jerry used to explain his use of light. I took tons of pictures and videos of his presentation and have been reviewing them today again. Keep in mind this is the day after his presentation and I am going over those images I took on my iPhone over and over.
In my few years of being a photographer I have done my best to stay away from the scary “lighting monster” which I stated earlier. Listening to Jerry was eye opening to say the least… it’s somewhat cliche to use the phrase “Aha Moment” and it irritates me to an extent but Saturday night was truly my Aha Moment in photography and I owe that to Jerry. I have received a lot of great advice from friends and mentors about photography but Jerry’s lighting presentation was just different. It truly was an Aha Moment and it was over the scariest area of my photography - LIGHTING and the USE of LIGHT. Jerry showed tons of ways to use light to make brilliant images without buying a high end light kit with tons of added accessories. He used any and all light that was available to him from crappy lights in the ceiling of a venue to natural… yes natural sunlight coming in through windows, doors, etc. Heck.. he even used outdoor sunlight hitting a model on the face with a pool backboard in the background with camera settings to make it look magical and not know what the amazing pattern was behind her. I can’t even explain how those images hit me last night. It was one after another after another and they were all amazing. Truly Jerry is a genius with lighting and I got to see it from the front row.
After last night my photography has been forever been changed and my goal now is to learn and be the best photographer using light I can be. Thank you to Jerry Ghionis for giving me something I needed at this point in my photography career. I started late in life in photography and at the age of 52 I am excited about the path I have in front of me.
The chance that Jerry will ever read this post is near zero and I’m sure he hears a lot of “Thanks Jerry” but this one is truly from the heart. It was truly life changing for me. It gave me the vision I needed to dive into lighting. I’m getting started this week and we will see where this lighting monster takes me. And… maybe just maybe I will have the opportunity to one day go to a Jerry Ghionis workshop on lighting in Las Vegas where he lives. Fingers crossed, we will see.
THANK YOU JERRY! You will never know what you mean to photographers around the globe but know that this photographer had his Aha Moment at your presentation last night.
JBP
