Look, the holidays are upon on us and it is the season of giving gifts to each other. No escaping that trip to the mall, or is there? Time to admit to yourself that some of the stuff you will receive during the holidays will be sheer junk. Right? But I am here to steer you or your well-intentioned Aunt Margie in the right direction.

You are a photographer or you are trying your hand at off-camera flash and you have no clue where to start. I have been there and totally get you. Without Zack Arias' One Light Workshop and One Light DVD I know I would have been lost. That was the first step I chose to take. The next step was to immerse myself into David Hobby's well known site, Strobist. I suggest you check it out as well.

The transition from Zack to David was a smooth one as they both preach shooting in manual mode. But when you pay $500 for a SB-900, you want it to jump through hoops for you when you want it to. To learn how to do that, one simply need to look no further than Joe McNally. TTL is like putty in his hands and I was determined to find out how he used his lights.

Wel, lucky me, in 2011 I heard that David Hobby and Joe McNally were getting on a bus and hitting a bunch of cities. While they didn't stop in Hartford, thanks to Jeffrey Snyder and Adorama, I was able to get a ticket to their Boston presentation. It was an all day event and they rocked the house with great useful information that I was excited to put to use right away.

Would you like to know what they demonstrated? Would you like to see how they each took a challenging lighting situation and solved it in front of a house full of other photographers (no pressure, eh, David and Joe?)

Yes, you can “attend” one of their presentations. Adorama has had the “Flash Bus Tour 2011 – Two Disc Set, By Joe McNally & David Hobby” on their shelves for sometime. Yes, I should have blogged about this before, but when I saw a Tweet from Jeffrey Snyder today that Adorama was selling off all copies of this awesome 2-DVD set at 50% off, I couldn't resist telling you about it right away.

So, if you or Aunt Margie is looking for a meaningful gift, send yourself or your aunt here to buy the 2-DVD set for $49.99. [affiliate link] No lie, obsessive as I am about learning from these two pioneers, I actually bought my copy of this 2-DVD set today.

I am told by Jeffrey and his colleague at Adorama, Joel Meisels, that when they are gone, they are GONE. So, are you going to procrastinate or take action? It really comes down to how serious you are about elevating your game.

Full disclosure: If you buy the DVD mentioned above, using the links in this post, I earn a small commission that helps support this website.

As I mentioned a few days back, I had the honor of meeting both David Hobby and Joe McNally during their Flash Bus stop in Boston. Thanks to Adorama – The Photography People, I was able to interview them both. If you haven't seen the interview with David Hobby yet, please check it out now.

Here is the one with Joe McNally:

This wasn't the first time I met Joe. I was one of his students at his Dobbs Ferry workshops (highly recommend it, by the way) in June 2009.

I have two of his books – The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes and The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters. His next book, Sketching Light, is due out soon and based on what he has just told me in the interview above, I just pre-ordered it.

If you have any of his books or you have attended Joe McNally's presentations in the past, please comment below.

Please thank Adorama again for making this interview possible. When they say they are the “Photography People,” I know they mean it. One way you can help Tiffinbox and yourself is by ordering all your photographic gear through them. Heck, if they are the go-to-store for Joe McNally's professional needs, why not for you?

*Yes there are affiliate links embedded in this blog post.