How I Got the Shot 5

AW Teaches Archive Course

This course is part of the AW Teaches Archive. It comes from an earlier phase of my work, but it was personally handpicked because it still holds strong value and includes concepts I continue to use today. While my process has been refined over time, the foundation shared here remains solid. This course is available as a standalone purchase through January 1, 2026. After that date, it will no longer be sold individually and will live exclusively inside the VP Box.

This course focuses on identifying locations and using the surrounding environment to shape light, even in conditions most people avoid. The images from this session were captured at 12 noon in full sun and went viral because many people couldn’t reconcile the shadow placement with the time of day.

Inside the course, I walk through full pullbacks of the entire location and show exactly what I used to shape the light. You’ll see the RAW file of the full-body image to understand placement, decision-making, and how little separation there is between the RAW and the final image. The course concludes with a complete edit of the close-up image.

What you’ll take away:
How to evaluate a location quickly, what I personally look for when shaping available light, and why certain environments work better than others even in harsh conditions.

This course reflects a slightly earlier phase of my work and focuses on environmental decision-making rather than a wide range of techniques. If you’re looking for a more current and expansive approach to full sun photography, Flash Forward is the updated course. It covers full sun with flash, natural light only, hard light while facing the sun, and extensive behind-the-scenes footage. https://awteaches.com/product/flash-forward/