Sean McCormack Photography Author youtube galway

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In which I discuss Strobist in London

My weekend was pretty eventful, at least from a travel point of view. I was booked into the Saturday Strobist seminar in London. Travelling on Saturday itself meant flying from Shannon rather than Galway, so I left the house at 4am for my 6:25am flight. I got in around 5:20 and headed for the gate. Flight was painless fortunately bar the constant Ryanair advertising onboard. Despite the huge queue for tickets, I still made my 8:15 Stansted Express. That meant that I was in time for the 9:30 start. Phew! I should say though that I hadn't managed to sleep Friday evening, although I did sleep a bit during the day (until 6pm).The seminar was good fun and educational, but for me it was mostly about reinforcement. That said there were nuggets along the way, making it all worthwhile. We did 4 different practical setups at the end, and I was dragged in as Subject #1. If I get Davids permission, I'll embed it in the post! The picks from the day are shown here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157608622721266/72157610761038681/.One thing we did get to see was the new Orbis Ringflash. It was also one of the lights used on me, so I had a unique look at it, you could say. Obviously it's a ring, and in this case David had it attached to a flash on a stand for convenience. The fact that you need to hold it would put me off it, vis the Rayflash which connects to an on camera flash. The Orbis is narrower at the top than the bottom and features curved internal channels to bounce the light about. Also at the flash end there is diffusion in the plastic, which then becomes clear with a semi circle boundary. The internal design is so simple that it would be easy to incorporate into DIY design (but far from as pretty).Later we raffled a California Sunbounce Micro Mini with coin toss. I got down to the last 4. Huy was a deserving winner, especially with his great Hi Key posing! The class ran late, so I had to cancel my original dinner plans (Sorry Martin). I wouldn't have made it anyhow. I did enjoy the banter after though.Verdict? Well worth the trip. There are those asking that next time there be an advanced practical class. I'd be well up for that, although in fairness, applying the lessons learned in assignments and jobs should be enough.