Happy 5th Birthday Winston Churchill!

My trusty photo assistant and partner in crime, Winston Churchill the Boxer, has turned 5 this past weekend. This post is in honor of him.

UPDATES?!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of photoshoot updates. I am happy to say I have been busy shooting, BUT a lot of the stuff I have been working on I cannot post right away due to contracts and such, but some great behind the scenes content is coming soon! In the meantime, enjoy the video of puppies chasing a small child:

Knight Rider GPS by Mio

Growing up (if that ever really happened) I was a huge fan of the Knight Rider tv show. I have probably seen every episode twice. Well, Mio has come out with a crucial piece of hardware that will most certainly be making many trips with me when I rent cars in foreign markets... The Knight Rider GPS! You get turn-by-turn directions from the voice of the original KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand), William Daniels. When it goes on sale, it is expected to cost around $270.

The CyberSync 2.4GHz Radio Remote Control system - Alien Bees new affordable solution

Flash manufacturer, Alien Bees (Paul C. Buff Inc.) has debuted a new line of camera transmitters and recievers to fire your flashes remotely. They are certainly a very affordable option ($59 for transmitter, $69 for receiver) in comparison to the competition which typically start at $150+. The CyberSync system will work with all Paul C. Buff flashes (Alien Bees and White Lightning systems) "as well as most other flash brands employing a standard phone jack or mini phone jack sync input. Connection to flash units using “H” or “PC” style connections is possible with suitable adapter cables."

I havent had a chance to try these out, but will try and get my hands on some soon. I love my PocketWizards, but I wouldn't mind something more compact!

Info from the Alien Bees website(http://www.alienbees.com/cybersync.html) :

"The CyberSync 2.4GHz Radio Remote Control system

The NEW CyberSync 2.4GHz trigger-transmitter and companion CyberSync Trigger-receiver are the first of a series of advanced remote control components designed by Paul C. Buff and made in America.

Extended operating range – High signal integrity and error immunity

2.4GHz band – 16 selectable
frequencies for eliminating interference

Battery drawer – One year plus transmitter battery life

Tripper-only and advanced remote control models
The CyberSync system is an advanced binary encoded system with a high degree of error security to assure freedom from false tripping. The system employs sixteen selectable operating frequencies within the 2.4GHz band to allow rejection of interference signals as well as interaction from other photographers who might be using radio controls in the area. This is vastly superior technology to Asian designed trippers that use pulse width encoding with no error detection.

Our testing indicates a usable range of up to 400 feet, depending on obstructions such as walls or adverse conditions such as metal buildings, bodies of water, etc.

The CyberSync transmitter/receiver pair may be used to trigger all Paul C. Buff, Inc. studio flash units as well as most other flash brands employing a standard phone jack or mini phone jack sync input. Connection to flash units using “H” or “PC” style connections is possible with suitable adapter cables.

It is generally advisable to use a separate receiver for each flash unit in your system, though it is feasible to use only one receiver connected to one of your flash units and allowing additional flash units to fire via their flash-sensitive trippers. This method, however, will not result in freedom from tripping by flashes from other photographers who might be shooting in the same area. If you are using our LG4X or RC1 wired remote system it is possible to connect one receiver to the wired remote control and to allow the connected lights to fire from the remote wiring without interaction with other photographers.

REPEATER MODE
Assume you are lighting a scene several hundred feet from your camera location. Position a CSR or CSRB midway between the camera and the scene and place it in repeater mode. When you fire the camera the repeater will receive the camera signal, then regenerate it for transmission to the more distant receivers. If a flash unit is connected to the repeater it will fire normally from the camera signal. The more distant flash units may also fire from the camera signal if they are close enough. If not, they will fire from the regenerated signal of the repeater.

Using a repeater delays the signal by an additional 1/4000 second. The resulting latency of 1/2000 second total is still fast enough to allow the camera exposure time to be set one click below the camera’s maximum sync speed in most uses. It is not generally advisable to use more than one repeater in a setup. If two repeaters are used and both receive the same transmission, both will regenerate at the same instant and interfere with one another."

In honor of Top Gear season 11...

One of my favorite shows on TV is the BBC show, Top Gear. I have been highly anticipating Season 11, which starts  this Sunday.  In honor of the show, I have posted a vintage Top Gear clip of Jeremy Clarkson destroying a Corvette with a helicopter. Expect similar testosterone-fueled antics on the new season.

Stacy Clark photoshoot in Malibu, CA

Did a shoot with this talented musician in California this past weekend. Many thanks to The Plain White T's for letting us shoot at their "recording mansion" in Malibu (Tom Higgenson of the PWT's with Stacy).

You can check out Stacy Clark's music here (she's amazing!): 

www.stacyclark.net

www.myspace.com/ilovestacyclark

Makeup was provided by LA-based Luvy Leal (luvyleal@yahoo.com)

Luvy in action:

More photos and behind-the-scenes video will be coming soon!

New portrait photoshoot

Photoshoot with model and photographer Courtney Parrie (http://courtneyparrie.com/). The main portraits (minus the B&W which was taken in the shade of the forest/natural light) we taken with a beauty dish mounted on a 1000 watt X3200 White Lightning strobe and a catch light behind the subject (a 600 watt White Lighting with a 7" reflector).

The jumping action shots were taken with the same lights, except one on either side of the subject and powered to the same level. I had the beauty dish on the side Courtney was facing and had her jump in the air off train tracks as I shot at 24mm (Canon 24-70mm 2.8L). I decided to leave the power lines in the one action photo because I felt it added to the design.

BMW GINA Light Visionary Model Concept

I know this is a photography blog, but I also happen to be a HUGE motor head. Just saw this video an amazing BMW concept vehicle. It is a design study asking the question, with todays amazingly strong car frames, do we really need a metal skin for automobiles? What if it was an evolving skin? It is pretty amazing (and a little bit creepy)