Recently, one of the ShutterCliq team members, Jay Gough, was fortunate enough to be selected to attend CreativeLIVE in Seattle as a studio audience member, for the Zach and Jody post-wedding workflow workshop. We really wanted to relate the entire CreativeLIVE experience as much as a blog post and some images possibly could.
“Ok, so when I got the email from the absolutely AWESOME Celeste (who I’ll talk more about later), giving me instructions of when to arrive, the address and basically saying welcome to CreativeLIVE, I knew I was in for a treat.
My day started at 4:30AM…ouch! But I knew that the drive with no traffic at all was about two and-a-half hours from my home in Vancouver, BC, so it was a necessity. I had only arrived home from the north of BC the night before. Ridiculously Strong Coffee and an iPod full of great tunes were in order for the trip down.
The studio audience was asked to be there by 8AM so the Broadcast could begin at 9 sharp. And when I say sharp, I mean sharp. But the hour before the broadcast was all about meeting fellow audience members getting a feel for the studio, and of course meeting Zach and Jody Gray.
With about 15 minutes left to go before broadcast, Celeste gathered us around and gave us our marching orders. I think when faced with anything new, going in prepared is key, and thanks to Celeste, we were all ready to rock!
So what happens when creativeLIVE goes live? Well, my first thought was that it would be a FLURRY of activity. Not so. The team down there has this down to a science as you would expect. So Celeste gave us the 10-second countdown and we were LIVE!
So the broadcast starts with Kenna welcoming the online audience as well as the live audience and then everyone in the live audience introducing themselves. This time we were asked to also say how we liked our coffee…and well, if you watched it, you know I like mine ‘ridiculously strong’.
Depending obviously on the technical requirements of the workshop, there are lots of different camera setups including the famous crane cam, which I didn’t get to see. (Darn!) This set up was 3 cameras. One fixed on Zach and Jody, and two being operated by the absolute pros at CL for audience interaction, and of course the moderators.
When you see a set on screen, you wonder how they constructed it and how it looks in up close. Well I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t just look pretty on screen! The production crew at CL do a fantastic job of constructing a set that most TV shows and movies would be proud of. The attention to detail and touches that go into each set are obviously well thought out, and executed.
On to Zach and Jody Gray, who were, of course, the stars of the show. Let me start by saying that you will never meet two nicer, more genuine photographers, who are willing to give of themselves and their experience so freely. The term “rockstars” has been a real buzzword around photography lately, and while there is no doubt that these two ARE rockstars, they sure don’t act like it.
The morning session went straight through to 11 AM, and picked up again after a 15-minute break. I’m not going to get into detail on what was covered because for $39 you can’t afford NOT to buy the course.
LUNCH! I hadn’t even considered that lunch would be provided, but it was, and it was delicious! Over lunch, the studio audience and CL staff sat down together and just talked about our businesses and generally got to know each other better.
This is the point in the day when Zach showed us the finer points of espresso and latte making. Not what I expected at all, but still really cool.
Part of what makes the overall CreativeLIVE experience so amazing and gratifying is people like Kenna and Celeste who make you feel like you’re home when you’re there, and really make you feel welcome and like you’re a part of the CL family for the entire time you’re there.
The Workshop ended at 4:00 PM with some live and online giveaways…and I hate to admit that very shortly after, I had to book it out of there to try to beat traffic to get home by 7 PM….”
Thanks, Jay for sharing your creativeLIVE experience with us!
