About this Event
Freeze the action—or let it flow! Discover how lighting can transform movement into portraits that feel crisp and powerful or fluid and expressive.
Join Ashley Lowder for a hands-on workshop, featuring a live, professional dancer/model. We’ll explore two creative approaches: freezing movement with a short flash duration and combining flash with ambient light to create intentional motion blur through shutter drag.
Watch each technique come together, then get behind your camera for guided shooting and experimentation. Ashley will explain what’s happening, why it works, and how to adjust when the image doesn’t match your vision. The goal is to leave with more than a set of camera settings—you’ll build an understanding you can bring to your own creative work.
What You'll Explore
⚡Freeze the Action: Discover how short flash duration can capture crisp movement—and why controlling ambient light matters.
📸 Master Shutter Drag: Explore shutter drag to combine a sharp flash-lit moment with expressive motion trails and blur.
💃 Put It into Practice: Photograph a live dancer/model during guided shooting opportunities and see how different choices change the results.
💡Understand the How and Why: Learn how flash duration, shutter speed, and ambient light work together so you can make purposeful adjustments.
🎨 Experiment with Intention: Review your results, ask questions, and explore how movement can become part of your visual storytelling. Bring your camera, your curiosity, and a willingness to try something new!
What to Bring
- Your Camera
- Your favorite portrait lens (recommended: 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, or 24-70mm)
- Freshly charged camera batteries and empty memory cards
🎫 Free to attend—register today!
Led by Ashley Lowder
About Ashley
Ashley Lowder is a Huntsville, Alabama–based portrait photographer, educator, and affectionately known to some as “Miss Westcott.” She’s a Certified Professional Photographer (CPP). Ashley brings a love of creative lighting, movement, and storytelling to her work. Her teaching philosophy is simple: understanding how and why lighting works will take you further than memorizing someone else’s settings. Her classes are hands-on, approachable, and built around helping photographers experiment with confidence—and have fun doing it.
Event venue & nearby stays
PIXEL Connection - Nashville, 700 Rundle Avenue, Nashville, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.