Here’s some Behind the Scenes (BTS) from a few make-shift and commercial studio hire adventures (the commercial studio is Mayfield Studio in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne).
As you can see in the images below, a few additions have been added to the equipment cupboard. My trusty Elinchrom AS3000 pack has gone to the studio lighting place in the sky! No, not the Cloud!! After over 25 years of service it’s gone bang! I can’t believe these things aren’t built to last – it was obviously a five minute wonder product!
I do remember Elinchrom boasting that you could still get a 500 mono block head of plus 25 years fixed due to the construction and the quality of the parts used! This is was what professional photographers want: reliable gear that can be fixed and not destined for land fill. But I take it that that policy has (disappointingly) changed and my AS3000 parts can’t be sourced any more.
So what’s a guy to do after he has loads of studio lampheads to plug into said flash packs? Correct! Buy some second had ones!
We’re now the proud owner of two 2400 Chic packs, a 2400RX Chic pack and a 1200RX Chic pack. Why so many? Well, the AS3000 pack was asymmetric, it had three inputs which could be set up to have totally different power values going through each channel (clever)! These Chic packs are symmetrical – they all have two channels and if you plug in two lampheads the power is split 50/50 (yes you can change this to 75/25 by using different types of lampheads but it’s still not as versatile as the AS3000!).
As you can see from the images below, more fantastic bikes from Vielo (using my new/old studio packs) and supermarket trollies. On the light shaper front for the keen eyed, a six foot brolly with a diffuser skin on and easy opening five foot octa box, originally bought for group portraits on a Carpet Right ad job.
Notice on the two different jobs: I used a four foot square top light for the bike images and a five foot octa for the supermarket items, the five foot gives a bigger spread with a natural fall off with the chrome items, the bikes need a more symmetrical light source to make the highlights on the bike frame even and consistent.
Lots of things have happened and are happening since the last post!
So as a bit of a tease, there is an interesting architectural job, another amazing lens and stuff flying in the air. But the most important thing on the horizon is the Great North Run which I am running again this year! The following weekend I will be running the Auchterader Run Festival too.
If I survive I’ll let you know how I got on!
Seeya soon, hopefully mb
