Livin' Large

Yesterday afternoon and evening's efforts were to capture portfolio images of a luxury beachfront home on Maui's north shore for a friend and architect who's office is upstairs in the same building as my studio. As I was shooting, the family who resides there... former residents of the stomping grounds of my youth back in Baltimore, Maryland, chatted me up about the sad losing streak this season of the Baltimore Orioles. They also laid out a fabulous spread of cold roast chicken, fresh greek salad, nachos with bean & cheese dip... the works. I thank them for their generosity and for making me feel quite at home with that thick Baltimore accent (think trash-film director John Waters).

Above is one of the final images from the session... a very nice "blue story". 

While work seems to be coming in steadily... maybe a little slower than normal, but high quality and more profitable assignments for more upscale advertisers (I think they may be the only ones able to afford to continue advertising at the moment), I'm feeling the need for a more portable location lighting kit. I've spent the last couple of months researching several manufacturer's options for battery powered strobe lighting kits... White Lightning, Hensel Porty's, Broncolor, Elinchron, and the one I think I have finally settled on, the Profoto 7b. The Profoto systems have a vast array of light shaping and modification tools in their line up. They also have nothing but rave reviews on all the forums and user boards I have researched. The downside is the cost of this system... a 1200ws power pack, 2 heads, a 5' octabank, spare battery & charger, and a couple of additional modifiers are going to run somewhere between $7k & $8k.

Ouch!

This morning I called three different large photographic supply houses, gave them my want list and now await their quotes. Currently, I am invested heavily in old, well-used, extremely reliable Norman power packs, heads and modifiers. They have served me well but I have been wanting to upgrade to a more controllable system for a while now. Norman has closed up shop now, so it is impossible to add new products from their line to my current arsenal. And... with an eye to spending more and more time in Asia in the very near future, the flexibility to the international dual voltage systems make more and more sense when considering the purchase of new lighting equipment.  The 7b pack and heads system seems like a logical upgrade in that regard and smart, if pricey entry into the Profoto line of equipment. We'll see what the quotes look like on monday morning and whether or not I will bite the bullet and place the order.

Anyone out there wanna buy some very ugly but excellent working condition Norman gear? I've got 2 P2000 packs, 1 1250 pack, 6 heads (one of them has a fan blower), pan reflectors, snoots, soft box speed rings, 2 200B's with battery upgrades & charger? Email me if you're interested.