Latest in the forest series....prelude post

No posts from me of late.

I have been busy, very busy.

I have shot another in my 'Forest' series, and I'm in post with it right now.

As ever with these shoots it is the logistics which are the killer.

The success or failure of the shoot came down to a calculation of how many journeys we would have to make up and back down the trail with Elinchrom Rangers, light stands and still be in the right ambient light 'window' to give a great picture.

Working for the first time with the Phase One IQ180, a new smoke machine too.

I had shot a total of nine shots in the series but of those nine only seven are good enough, so two shots are in the bin at not inconsiderable expense.

I'm pleased to report this one will make it number eight.

I will be sharing the details of this very ambitious project in the weeks ahead with all that went right, and all that went very wrong too, and how the Phase One IQ180 and the Gitzo tripod tipped the balance in my favour.........

Revving up for Australian Workshops, with an eye on smoke machines.

As the heading says, I'm getting all the stuff together for the Australian workshops, which are filling quite nicely.

What is really on my mind at the moment is the smoke machine.....

No 'Forest' style shoot would be complete without one.

I own a Colt turbo from Peasoup, a truly amazing piece of kit.

Pea Soup are THE go to people for smoke machines and are involved in so many grand projects so they are a mine of information.

For sheer power and reach it is better than anything else I have used.

It is invaluable to be able to 'project' smoke to exactly where you want it, and it has so much power it excels at this.

It does have one drawback though - it is mains powered, and it draws so much current it makes mincemeat out of all but the biggest, baddest generator.

I have always managed to dance around the problem to some extent, the machine can operate for about 15 mins unplugged once it is up to temperature.

You can see how effective it was on my Zebra shoot.



Australia I think will present somewhat of a challenge, so I'm investigating battery powered options.

The Mini Rocket 12V DC 400W battery powered portable smoke machine seems to fit the bill and I'm toying with getting one for the workshops.

You can see it in action here

Seems a bit extravagant but I think it would see a lot of action for some time to come.

More info regarding venues and animals very soon.

After the Gold Rush by Tomer Jacobson

Last week I received an email form Tomer Jacobson in Israel.

Tomer sent an image titled'After the Gold Rush'

It is part of a series he has just started which is based on his interpretation of songs that he likes .

This part is very important in my books as when we shoot anything we like, or love, it is always so much better for it.

Needless to say this one is his interpretation of the enigmatic Neil Young song.

Enigmatic in that I don't think Neil Young has ever revealed what the song is about, interestingly he has also never released any of his songs for use in commercials.

Tomer shot this image.....

So, a well executed and lit shot but the clever part for me is the concept.

In the world of 'Me too' coming up with a clever and original idea carries so much more weight and significance, in my eyes at least.

I suspect in the wider world too.

Tomer has posted BTS video of the shoot here.



Its in Hebrew so I can't understand the words, but really there is no need to, you see him getting on with it and doing a great job and working with the light not against it

He ended up using an image shot with available light, I'm not that surprised, smoke machine shots seem to work very well with available light...and a hint of flash

With a little help from my old friend the smoke machine.

Like myself, Tomer chose to buy sooner than rent to save money long term, so I suspect we will be seeing it again in the series.

I look forward to seeing what else Tomer comes up with.

The concept is king

What is yours going to be?