Profoto 600b portable strobe

I LOVE my Profoto 600b. So portable. No extension cords, built in pocket wizard, small enough to carry on an airplane, it fits snugly into its own little case. Very fast recycle times. Small battery. I use a 3 stop piece of neutral density gel so I can shoot at wide apertures. Pics are from an assignment today.

A Room With A View

Adela got her risotto at the Asaggio restaurant in the beautiful Italian North End Boston.

WHERE:   Boston for a Celtics game

HOTEL:    Holiday Inn Express, 280 Friend St., right across the street from the game. Room 210

COMFORT: Not bad

PRICE:  $210usd. Parking 2 blocks away at the reduced rate of $30usd, (normal rate was $68!)

FOOD:  Free breakfast in the lobby but we didn't partake. Lots of pubs right outside the hotel and plenty of choices within a 10 minute walk.

COMMENTS:  The room was small but location ruled. Hotel looked recently renovated and was very modern and comfortable but there wasn't a chair in the room it was that small. Not a hotel room you'd hang out in but why would you with North End Boston and the Quincy Market a 5 minute walk away.

Conga drummers hands

I play conga drums. You might spot me playing with Salsa Picante where I am, generally speaking,  "hanging on for dear life" with some of Halifax's finest musicians.

This time of year when the air is dry my fingers split open when I play even a little. OUCH! This is not a cut but a split. The skin just busts open and it hurts! Don't be squeezing any limes with those fingers.

Quality of light

Its all about the quality of light. Delicate in this case. These two girls from Strut Agency had a great look too. Not my usual stuff but I enjoyed working out the lighting for these. Used my new Profoto Compacts and a few softboxes. Classic clamshell lighting.

Me in the middle or 'Action Ace Airways'

These old photos are hilarious!

Firefighter

I love this firefighter shot. It was a tough assignment from Readers Digest to shoot a firefighters school. The same assignment went out across the country. I was told, 'we're short on flames so if you can get some good flame shots you could have a shot at the cover.' Of course the school is inside a big brick bldg where fires are started and students go in and put them out. Its as dark as night in there and you can't go in without full safety gear. I was able to have the instructor light a fire for me outside just as it was getting dark. I almost got no pictures at all but did manage to get this one and a few more. And yes I got the cover!

Used an innovatronix battery powered strobe with umbrella. Camera: canon 1Ds mark11 and 70-200mm zoom lens.  The few good shots I did get took all of 5 or 10 minutes.

Bridge walk 1980's

Here's another photo of me working at the Halifax Herald. Covering the first 'bridge walk'. The first time I actually made the front page, literally!  Click on the image for a closer look.

Canoscan 4400f or 'cool cat lodge'

I needed to scan a recent Readers Digest cover for my portfolio and decided I might as well buy a cheap scanner. Got a Canoscan 4400f for $99 and it scans film too!! I've been having fun going through old b&w negatives. Check these out!

1981?

Holy mackerel!! My early days at the Chronicle Herald. 

Could that be Trevor Berbick landing a punch? That's my co-worker Kerry Delory with the old Nikons across the mat. And that is me, above, on Birmingham St. leaning on the company Honda. We worked 10 days on and 4 off at a very low wage. On weekends we were on call 48 hrs. and had no pager let alone cell phone.  Notice the cigarette and the top of an old wet cell potato masher flash sticking out of the camera bag on the hood of the car. Wowzer! Were those the days or what?

Tell No One - go see this movie!

This is a really really good film. See here for nytimes review.