Ab Sesay
Track: Lighting & Camera Skills

At a Glance

  • Master advanced and refined lighting techniques
  • Learn how to create compelling commercial portfolios
  • Understand the business fundamentals of commercial photography
  • Gain confidence in presenting themselves to agencies and brands
  • Build long-term client relationships through strong communication and execution

Class Description

To thrive as a commercial photographer, you need more than just technical skill you need vision, versatility, and the ability to deliver on a client’s expectations with confidence.

In this comprehensive master class, photographer Ab Sesay will guide you through the creative and logistical framework behind successful commercial shoots.

You’ll explore advanced lighting techniques for photographing people, products with people, and people within real-world spaces both in-studio and on location. But lighting is just the beginning.

This class also pulls back the curtain on the complete commercial workflow, from casting talent and negotiating contracts to building a strong portfolio and creating content that showcases your creative process.

You’ll learn how to position yourself as a go-to photographer that clients can trust—and want to work with again.

Whether you’re looking to sharpen your technical skills or expand your business knowledge, this class will give you the tools to take your commercial work to the next level.

  • CLASS INTENSITY: Blue
  • CLASS BREAKDOWN
    Classroom instruction & demos: 50%
    Hands-on: 30%
    Post-production: 20%
  • PREREQUISITES:
    Lighting 4: Strong use of multiple lights and mixed lighting situations.
    Post-Production 3: Can work with layers, layer masks & understand blend modes.
    Post-Production 4: Digital Art & Composite experience. Experience in blending image with brushes.
    Studio Business 4: Established and ready for more.

What do these mean? Learn More

Meet Your Instructor

Ab Sesay
White Plains, NY
Instagram: absesay_photo
Website: absesay.com

Ab Sesay is a versatile commercial advertising photographer, creative producer, and content creator known for his exceptional ability to blend ideas, technology, and resources to elevate projects and bring his clients’ visions to fruition.

With an impressive career spanning over 20 years, Ab has served as a producer for both motion and stills, gaining invaluable experience from the client’s perspective as the Chief Creative Producer at the Mac Group. He has overseen content development for more than 30 renowned brands, including Sekonic, X-Rite, Broncolor, Bowens, Profoto, Elinchrom, and many more.

Ab has expertly harmonized engineering, sales, and marketing to create impactful educational content for end-users. According to Ab, “Every project possesses a unique creative goal, timeline, and budget, and finding the perfect balance between them is a thrilling challenge.”

Beyond his in-house work at the Mac Group, Ab has taken on various outside contracts, working with prestigious names such as L’Oreal, Pepsi, Universal Records, Fuji Film, 9999 Inc, Safari Sunday, Stag & Hare, Higher DOSE, and even nonprofit organizations like the American Parkinson Disease Association.

Currently, Ab wears multiple hats as the Brand Manager for Sekonic Light Meters and a Chief Creative Producer at the Mac Group while also being passionate about teaching lighting.