MASS – Workshop and Masterclass in Gran Canaria

MASS – Workshop and Masterclass in Gran Canaria

MASS – WORKSHOP Y MASTERCLASS IN GRAN CANARIA :

 

To finish off the year in style, in December Lightpainting Paradise took a trip to Gran Canaria together with the amazing french lightpainting artist, Mass.

We had various reasons for wanting to visit the island. The main reason was to pay a visit to the DUKE camera shop to get to know one of our newest distributors a little better, but we can’t lie: the climate, the company and the food all helped in convincing us to pay a visit!

We were also aware of how difficult it can be for photographers based on the islands of Spain to be able to attend workshops and conferences which are almost always held on the mainland. As such, we decided to make life easier by bringing light painting to them along with a top international artist in Mass.

Thanks to the incredible help and efforts of DUKE and our collaboration with OLYMPUS we organised a masterclass and a workshop with MASS which were both a complete success.  We could not be happier with the outcome of the trip, the help and support provided to us throughout the trip, the marketing and publicity put in place before our visit – everything and everyone made us feel completely at home with the great work they put in and the close attention that had paid to everything.

Our trip began very early – 6am in the morning found Ivan, Iris and Mass already at the airport, with sleepy eyes but all excited to head off on our latest adventure.  Upon landing we were greeted by our friend José Moroño who would be our host for the trip – and a better host you could not ask for.

We were expecting a bit of a crazy week, so for the first day we took it very gently and just enjoyed the scenery, the company, some good food, laughter and relaxation.

Friday was the day of the masterclass which was a complete success.  The room provided by DUKE was packed out by the time Mass introduced himself. 

He spoke a little about himself, about his artistic style and vision, how he got involved in the world of lightpainting and, as we expected, blew away the attendees with some live light painting demonstrations in his inimitable style.

Saturday was the day of the workshop and a long and exciting day lay ahead of us.

After drinking gallons of coffee, along with a few churros courtesy of José, we met up with the workshop participants in a restaurant where we were going to go through the basic theory.  There we ate like kings whilst enjoying the incredible ocean views and, after a few more coffees, it was time to start learning from MASS.

Even though Spanish is not his native language, Mass made a real effort to explain everything in our language to make sure that all the attendees understood what he was trying to get across.

He explained his tips and tricks, explained and demonstrated how to make the relevant movements and did a number of live demonstrations so that everyone could see what goes into making his detailed designs.

Once the theory had been explained, it was time to head outside to practice.

The first location was the salt mines of Tenefe, where Mass explained to the attendees, one by one, the movements they should make in order to create the relevant forms and then studied their results carefully to help them improve. 

With this form of light painting, it is important to have the shapes you want to créate clear in your mind in order to get into a good “Flow” and achieve the results you are looking for.

 

After a few hours of practice, we went to recharge our batteries with a few sandwiches and then it was back to practicing, this time in our second location: the amazing sand dunes of Maspalomas –  a magic location where we could enjoy the geminid meteor shower as well as several kilos of sand in our shoes!

Once there, we set to work – it was time to put into practice all which we had learnt.  The attendees took tons of photos, both individually and in collaboration with MASS and we could always count on the invaluable help of our model Mari Carmen, who put up with the cold like a champion until 5am in the morning.

To bring the entire session to a close, MASS created a few group portraits for us – an incredible momento of a wonderful weekend full of art, good company and laughter.

We could have stayed to watch the dawn, bu tour flight was leaving really early and we had to go.  With our stomachs full of Mojo, virtually no sleep and our hearts full of happiness for the fantastic experience of these special shared moments, we said goodbye to the island.

We hope to be able to return son – it has been a few truly special days surrounded by excellent company.

Thanks to everyone for making this weekend such a success!

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