Lessons
Lesson Info
Class Introduction
We're gonna be talking about tethering, and the importance of tethering. We're gonna go through my entire setup of everything from the computer to the monitors, client preview, and then we're gonna do a live shoot. So it's gonna be next hour and a half. So I'm totally stoked. My creative journey started in the music business. At the age of 16 I started touring with some friends of mine playing small clubs, small bars. Also started dabbling in Adobe Photoshop, and started playing with social media on Friendster and Myspace. In a matter of six years, fortunately, we toured all over the nation. Went from playing small clubs to sold out crowds all across the US. We had built a substantial reputation, and eventually sold over 60,000 records. It was pretty cool. I had formed a small graphic design business in the mean time to basically make ends meet. But, you know, in music the biggest challenge isn't really gaining popularity. It's actually making a financial gain from the hard work. Since...
record sales and digital downloading had just come to fruition, actually when we were in it iTunes was just still a new thing. There was no streaming. There was none of that. No Spotify. So digital downloading was a huge thing, and it was a big thing and industry that plummeted a lot of record sales. And there are only a handful of independent artists actually making it, if you will. And we always said we were in the ticket and tshirt business rather than the record business. And most artists had to rely on concert tendees and merchandise just to live on the road. In the fall of 2010, at the age of 26, my band In the Clear called it quits, but fortunately I had formed that graphic design business and I had established really good clientelle such as Universal Records and Metal Blade Records, and a lot of different bands. That same year I picked up a camera just to solely shoot stock photography. I had no other intention just to shoot, sort of a means to an end. To shoot stock photography to supplement my graphic design and supplement all these crazy design requests that I was getting in from all these various labels and bands. But everything snowballed. You know, I went from basically a small graphic designer to what I am today. To an advertising, editorial portrait photographer. I took basically what I learned in the music industry and applied it to photography. While I had to sort of navigate a lot of muddy water and unknown territory at first, making money in photography actually came pretty easily for me. I went from photographing babies and families and weddings and friends at parties, to partnering with a lot of high caliber clientelle within the past couple years, in the editorial, entertainment and advertising industry. Eventually I referred all my graphic design clients off, and became a full time photographer. But my success really wasn't built on talent. My success has always been built on relentless action, efficiency, and making sure I had all the tools needed for the job, of course, when you're on high production sets.
Ratings and Reviews
JennMercille
I have been wanting to add tethering to my workflow for quite sometime, but it seemed so daunting and expensive. Clay Cook walks you through every tiny detail and tool, in a buildable, step-by-step process. And as an added bonus, watching him shoot with a model was really cool and informative. He brings an inspiring energy with him as an instructor who has worn many hats in the creative industry. I highly recommend this course!
Gabriel Caro
Justin VanDyke
Student Work
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