behind the LIVE takes off on a helicopter ride with Vincent Laforet

Okay, so before you get too excited, my helicopter ride with director/filmmaker/Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet was of the metaphorical kind. Vincent is known for hanging out of helicopters with souped up camera rigs, capturing the beauty of the earth from above. He gets to see things in a way that most of us might not have a chance to and then shares that with us through his art and storytelling. I really like that concept - it's what living life is all about. It's what creativeLIVE is all about. What fun or satisfaction is there in keeping an experience or knowledge all to yourself?

A few weeks ago Susan Roderick and I gave birth to our behind the LIVE project. I feel incredibly grateful to be a volunteer in-person chat host representing all of you out there on the internet who are watching creativeLIVE from the comfort of your own homes, asking your questions and passing along your comments to instructors. It's like I win the lottery over & over with each creativeLIVE workshop. Susan and I love getting to know the instructors, students, cast and crew of creativeLIVE courses and workshops and we thought it would be super fun and fabulous to bring the interwebs behind the scenes too! We've done this in the past with stills, but what better way to enhance your behind the scenes experience than moving to video? And what better time to move to video than during Vincent Laforet's workshop teaching still photographers like us how to take the leap to video? 

So we're in, and we're doing it despite not really knowing what we're doing. I have a little HD Flip video recorder and Susan has her new 5D Mark II. Match that up with iMovie on my Mac and we're ready to roll! We figure 6 months from now we'll be sitting back laughing at how incredibly amateur our video skills were. But that's how everyone begins. It takes practice and a willingness to make mistakes and learn from them. We thought it would be cool to show you what happens right after the creativeLIVE workshop ended, when producer Celeste Olds announces "clear!" When the creativeLIVE cameras stop rolling, behind the LIVE cameras start rolling.

Want to see more of what went on behind the LIVE during Vincent's workshop? Check out our YouTube channel for more behind the scenes footage, follow us on Twitter @behindtheLIVE and "Like" our Facebook page too! 

This week I had a another fun idea. I realized that while Susan and I have some interesting questions of our own, there is WAY more content and power in the questions all of you might have. What if Susan and I ask YOU for ideas and inspiration for our behind the LIVE videos? What do YOU want to ask Bambi Cantrell or Jasmine Star or Penny de los Santos that we might not ask during the actual creativeLIVE workshop? As creativeLIVE chat hosts, Susan and I are just a vessel for all y'all out there. So why not do the same for behind the LIVE?! We are excited to gather YOUR ideas and juicy questions to ask instructors, students, crew behind the LIVE in future workshops. Inquiring minds want to know, right? We're not looking for the standard "Canon vs. Nikon," "Lightroom vs. Aperture" or "What's your greatest tip for photographers just getting started?" We're talking reality TV here. How do you ask questions? Well, feel free to send us tweets (@behindtheLIVE) or leave your questions, thoughts and ideas on our Facebook page. 

While my video skills are in their infancy, still images speak a thousand words in the language I am most fluent. I love the intensity in which Vincent teaches and guides his students, whether in person or around the globe. Enjoy!

Thank you Vincent Laforet, Chase Jarvis and creativeLIVE for a stellar ride! Next up - this weekend (Mar 18-20) world renown photographer Bambi Cantrell takes us on a different kind of ride in her free free 3-day Posing and Lighting workshop at creativeLIVE. Bambi will be covering important fundamentals and showing how to apply those techniques in a range of wedding, boudoir, and portrait environments. Don't miss this one - it's bound to be juicy and incredibly spirited! Enroll here for free. I'll see you there!