Traveling Light

Traveling light, meaning not many equipment cases, is not something I’m known for. In my defense, growing up with film, there simply had to be more gear intensity applied to situations, just to carve out an exposure. ISO 5000 sounded like the name of a new planet discovered by NASA, you know, that one on the dark side of Uranus.

Couple the work intensive obligations of film with the genre of assignments I often got, things could easily end up in the realm of “lots of stuff.” All of which got loaded onto an airplane, hopefully the same plane I was on, and met me on down the line at baggage claim.

All of the above went with me, when I was photographing one of the largest telescopes on earth. As one does. The job was shot from a helicopter, lights were triggered via radio transmission to unreliable radio receivers that were run up on high stands in the slit door of the telescopes. Thankfully, it was a very calm night out in the Atacama Desert. No wind. Slow shutter, most likely a 1/30th, Leica M4 with a 21mm lens, to avoid mirror bounce. Kodachrome 200, which was the upper limit of ASA where I could generally go for the Geographic.

Now, bless the tech! I travel so much lighter. We’ve done some reels over on our Instagram channel that had some interest and some questions. I went back and looked at some of the imagery and so many pictures were one light. One light and done. New technology with mirrorless, such as the Z 9, is wonderfully clean, with an amazing high ISO. Auto WB. Razor sharp AF. Astonishing array of fast glass. Plena!

Below shot from a fashion series in Peru. Four foot Profoto Octa, camera right. One light.

Shoot through umbrella, camera right. One light.

One raw light, gelled warm, camera right.

From a fashion series in Beijing. One beauty dish (one light), from camera left.

A lead up to the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in 2021. One light, one raw head (Profoto B10X Plus) with an extraordinary athlete and Mt. Fuji.

A favorite series from Vegas. One overhead light – Profoto beauty dish.

From Havana, Cuba. One light in a kitchen. One Four foot Octa – in a tight space!

The point is, as I looked at a whole bunch of pictures shared lately, it’s simple, tried and true. No matter how fancy the cameras get, there are still two basic elements of control. F-stops and shutter speeds. When you add a third element, flash, or, as some folks call it, artificial light, you gain great leverage over your scene. You accelerate your foreground, and thus you can subdue or even obliterate your background. You can saturate it, emphasize it, or de-emphasize it.

You can wrestle an ornery sun to the ground and step on its neck, if you have a light source with good power. You can create the sumptuous quality of thoughtful, moody window light. You can turn somebody green or blue.

You don’t need a driveway filled with boxes, grip bags and strobes. One light gives you a world of control in a small package.

More tk….