Gables Motor Lodge Raleigh

Another drive by. I've passed it for years and have always wanted to shoot it. Not the right direction of light this time of year. I'll go back in the summer.

Peace Street Raleigh

Close to the holidays it's always alittle slow ....... There are afew places I drive by everyday and have wanted to shoot. I had some time so off I went. I'm not 100% sure but I think this is the old Halifax Court.

Prison Break ... Not ...

I was doing some more testing with an agency. I always shoot the normal stuff casual,business etc. I had some extra time with Phil so I dragged him to the water plant. I've had this idea of a businessman throwing paper at the plant for awhile and he kinda looks like the guy from Prison Break. This is probably in my top 10 favorite shots I've ever done. Next time I'm thinking of bringing a desk and chair. AB 800ws with small umbrella camera left and AB400ws as a backlight with reflector.

Kings

Some images for an agency. AB 800ws.

Innovatronix Tronix Explorer 1200ws test innovatronix

So my early Christmas present arrived by UPS the other day, a Tronix Explorer 1200ws pure sine wave inverter. I've used the old school Vagabond for years but couldn't use my other strobe outfits with it. The Tronix Explorer 1200ws seemed to be the answer.I did some quick studio test, not real world shooting,here are my results.This is right out of the box with no charging.

Profoto Acute 600E - worked fine with an Acute E head,but when I tried it with a Acute 2 head, the head makes a almost
grinding sound before it come up to power. Seemed to recycle slow even at low power.
Profoto Acute2R 1200 - Same as above with the different heads. My pack wasn't firing with my pocket wizards and even with
the sync-cord to camera wasn't firing... I tried a new sync-cord and same thing..... I plugged the pack
into a wall outlet and it worked fine both ways ? I then plugged it back into the Tronix Explorer 1200
and it fired with the pocket wizards. I have to be honest and say that the built in PW in the Acute
1200R pack has never worked right from day 1 and I always use an external PW with the pack. But
remember it still won't fire being hard wired with a sync-cord.
Both Acute Packs - They both fired, same issue with the grinding sound of the Acute 2 head and the sync issue with the 1200.
Speedotron 2403B- Worked fine, seemed like the fan in the head kept turning off and on.
Speedotron 2403 - Worked fine, seemed like the fan in the head kept turning off and on.
Speedotron 1201A - This was the fastest recycle time of any pack, same thing with the fan coming on and off
Speedotron 2401A - Didn't work at all, when everything was shut off you could still hear the pack cycling through a charge ?

I'll have to do some more test with multiple heads and try it out on a real shoot to get a better feel for it.

Horne Creek Farm

I was somewhere outside Winston-Salem at Horne Creek Farm, shooting some images for Our State Magazine. Guess what an old farm house built in the late 1800's has no electricity. It was cold that night and they forgot to open the dampers in the chimneys, lots of smoke. My jacket still smells like a campfire. The staff and people were great. Most shots were just one light,very small rooms in the house. The outdoor images were SB-800 with AB 800ws on the house fired PW's.

Wine Bar 3

Wine Bar 2

Wine Bar 1

Some shots for NC Signature Magazine about the West End wine bar in Chapel Hill NC. Most were soft box umbrella and a hard light, some were available light. Lots of details and room for copy.

Army of Business Men

Today is the first day I haven't been on the road in awhile. Lots of file editing to do. I ordered a bunch of X-mas gifts the other day from Archie Mcphee http://www.mcphee.com/. If you haven't shopped their before check it out. I came across a tub of businessmen and had to get them for myself. I put them on a white formica sweep and just used the overhead floursent lights in the studio.

author Lee Smith

I was hanging out in Hillsborough the other day with author Lee Smith. Funny she's with algonquin books whom I do some work with. She has a lovely historic home and we shot upstairs in her office. Profoto small and big umbrella. We shot afew images in her backyard some light snow. Had to breakout the lensebaby.

Snowman

A shot for an agency xmas card.

Garden in December ?

I had an editorial assignment for an article about a home and garden to be published in March. The only problem is it's December and there is noting in bloom and everything is covered in leaves. I shot alot of detail shots around the home and the owners are going to provide some images of the garden from the summer.

The Dumpling Lady Anne Grimes

Up in Ayden NC to do some shots of Anne Grimes The Dumpling Lady. She was in the process of moving so we shot the images in her new home that was under construction. Lots of dust from the sanding of the floors. I'm still not sure exactly what a dumpling is. Soft-box for front light and back light small umbrella.

Margaret Maron

Some out-takes of author Margaret Maron http://www.margaretmaron.com/ at her gazebo where she like to write.
Had to try the lensbaby, still having a hard time with the focus.

Raleigh Museum

Shot for a story on the Raleigh Museum.

Tis the season to Travel........

Seems like I'm all over the state these past 2 weeks Greensboro,Ayden,Benson,Chaple Hill,Hillsborough and a few local shoots. Some shots for a story on Char-Grill.