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Join us for an exciting presentation about dance and sports photography with Willie Sakai!
If you’ve ever been frustrated with capturing rapid action, this talk is for you. Out of focus shots? Horribly overexposed images? Stuck with crummy light? Been there, done that.
Dance, sports, and event photographers are often faced with multiple challenges – fast moving subjects, no option for do-overs, no control over lighting, limited time to shoot, venue restrictions, and dealing with a massive number of image files.
This talk will cover tips for meeting such challenges, where you’ll learn how to:
– Choose gear for capturing action
– Refine your auto focus settings
– Tame your exposure meter
– Compose compelling images
– Organize a high-volume digital workflow
Even if action-oriented photography isn’t your thing, this knowledge is still applicable to other situations such as street photography, chasing your kids/grandkids around, concert photography, etc.
Darkroomers members will be sent Zoom login info via email. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please contact us so we can add you to the guest list.
About Willie Sakai
Willie Sakai caught the photo bug as a teenager, way back in the film days. He switched to DSLR in 2005 to capture better photos of his daughter, who had started competitive dancing at an early age. As volunteer photographers for their daughter’s high school dance team, Willie and his wife Lois acquired more gear and learned techniques for capturing fast-moving subjects in less-than-ideal lighting.
After their daughter finished high school in 2010, Willie and Lois founded Jade Coast Photography, specializing in portraiture for dancers, seniors, and families. Still interested in improving his skills, Willie joined the Professional Photographers of San Diego County (PPSDC), where he has served as webmaster since 2017.
Experience with PPSDC image competitions has led to recent recognition:
– Multiple ribbons at the Del Mar Fair Exhibition of Photography
– PPSDC Illustrative Photographer of the Year (2019 and 2020)
– PPSDC 2020 Digital Imaging Photographer of the Year
– PPSDC 2020 Image of the Year
– PPSDC 2020 Photographer of the Year
To think it all started with wanting to take better dance pictures.
Join us for our Monthly Critique Night via Zoom!
Our judge for February is Alan Hess.
Members will be emailed with Zoom meeting information. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please contact us to be added to the guest list.
Image critiques are available for members only. If you’d like more information about joining Darkroomers, please check out our membership page and email us if you have any questions.
About Alan Hess:
I am a San Diego-based photographer specializing in concert and live-event photography. I have photographed thousands of concerts, events, conferences, and sporting events. From small club shows to big arenas, I thrive on the fast pace of shooting on the fly, the rush of the house lights going down, and the drive to capture the “show” in still images.
I have photographed a wide variety of events including national touring acts like: Billy Idol, Cher, Bruce Hornsby, Justin Bieber, Madonna, The Who, The Dead, Slayer, John Legend, Marilyn Manson, Robin Williams, The Smashing Pumpkins, Steel Pulse, Jay Z, Widespread Panic, Willie Nelson and many others. I have photographed conferences small and large including covering press rooms, panels and cast signings at the San Diego Comic Con for Fox / and FX Television for more than five years. I am the house photographer for the Pechanga Arena – San Diego and have written 16 books and edited many more.
Join us for a presentation from Darkroomers own Rick Phillips on Portrait Lighting.
This presentation will take place via Zoom. Members will be emailed with the meeting link. If you’d like to attend as a guest, please email info@darkroomers.com and we’ll add you to the guest list.
About Rick:
Born in Texas but growing-up in the Whittier area of Los Angeles… Rick spent a lot of time driving his 1949 Chevy up to the San Gabriel Mountains for the snow and down to Huntington Beach for the surf. Even though he never had a formal photography class, when he was in high school, he always could be found with a camera taking photos for the school newspaper or yearbook. And, he did some feature photos for several community newspapers. After his Freshman year, he spent the summer working two jobs to buy himself a 4”x5” Speed Graphic camera and a 50-60 pound strobe!
Colleges used to sponsor Journalism/photo contests for LA area high schools and he won trophies for feature and sports photos. He even won the then unheard-of sum of $10.00 in a national photo contest sponsored by the American Optometric Association!
Based on compositional skills, not technical, his teachers wanted him to enroll in LA Trade Tech’s photography program, but his mother wouldn’t hear of it… HER SON was going to be the first in the family to attend a real college! So, after graduation, he attended real San Diego State and he took no photos for four years. Marriage and the Navy followed graduation.
He was given a Mamiya Sekor 35mm as a graduation present and his interests in photography was marginally rekindled as he sold photos to the other students of them flying. After returning to SD from Pensacola, he took a few photos, but most of his time was spent working for SDG&E and raising a son and daughter. (He’s a fire captain in Solana Beach and she’s a director for an international financial firm.)
When he retired, he returned to the Mamiya Sekor but, soon, discovered digital photography. He bought a Sony Mavica and wasted a year or two with it… then, he started getting serious and bought a Nkon D70. Fortunately, there were DSLR Meet Ups and other camera clubs to teach him enough technical skills to get by.
On several cruises with his wife, he took “post card photos”, but nothing serious. Also, he photographed the various archaeological and paleontologic sites at which volunteered. The addition of a telephoto lens, eventually, added bird and nature photos to his repertoire. Finally, he discovered his true passion when Ken Cohen taught him the basics of studio portraiture.
Since then, he has worked a few commercial gigs (Turn Key Properties, Wells Fargo Bank, a clothing firm, senior portraits, etc), but, mostly, he’s pissed-off everyone he knows by repeatedly asking them to sit for portraits!