I’m Drew Gurian, Joe McNally’s first assistant.  Louis invited me to write a few words about myself, what I do with Joe, and a bit about our upcoming Malaysia workshops.  So to start, I’d like to give a big Thank You to Louis for this opportunity, and for welcoming us to this community and to Malaysia.

A few months back, I was a guest blogger for Scott Kelby (which you can see here: http://tiny.cc/PpPa3), so I’m going to try and talk about a couple of different things this time around.

As for my position as first assistant, it involves doing just about everything and anything you can possibly think of: setting up/adjusting lighting and grip on-location, shooting video, tech support, downloading cards, processing files, video editing, printing, traveling (and generally speaking, a lot of it), maintaining equipment, etc.

For a bit more insight, here’s what our current three-week schedule includes: Shoots in New York City, Tampa, FL, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boulder, CO, and Malaysia.

All in all, Joe McNally Photography is a very small operation, but one that’s been getting much more efficient over the past couple of years- as all studios need to be doing in the current marketplace.  The studio team includes Joe, Lynn DelMastro (our studio manager of over 15 years- and amazing producer), myself, Will Foster (our grip-house master/organizational guru), Lynda Peckham (our digital archivist/problem-solver), and an intern or two at any given time.

So how did we end up in Malaysia? Louis was a student of Joe’s at the Santa Fe Photo Workshops in the US this past summer and he approached him about having us over in 2010.  You wouldn’t believe the amount of inquiries we get like this on a weekly basis- but after a ton of hard work and planning by all parties (mostly by Louis), it became a reality.  So now, for the first time ever, we’re extremely happy and excited to be holding the first ever Joe McNally Lighting Workshops in Malaysia!

Dealing with any world travel that involves a lot of gear is never an easy ordeal- especially with what we’re going to pull off (Imagine trying to bring 15+ cases of gear on a plane, internationally?).  We worked out an equipment list with Louis- some of which he’s able to supply, some we’ll bring, and some will be supplied by our friends at Lastolite and Elinchrom from their local distributors.

We also found a really affordable international shipping services through FedEx that we’ve used to ship a handful of packages ahead of us.  A bunch of gear, as well as fifteen 20×30 prints for a gallery show should be there when we arrive (fingers crossed).

Though Joe’s been just about everywhere (though not to Malaysia), this trip is undoubtedly the furthest i’ve ever traveled- and my first time in Asia.  I can’t say how excited I am to experience a new culture, new people, environments, food, and more than anything- to have a blast talking photography with people on the other side of the world whom with we share a common bond.

We’re both extremely excited to be coming out your way, and we look forward to meeting you very soon!

-Drew

(Keep up with our travels on Twitter: @joemcnallyphoto, @drewgurian)