Originally I thought that this post would have nothing to do with photography. Then I realized that it is extremely easy to relate since it is about creativity, creativity as Sir Ken Robinson sees it.
I saw references to Sir Ken Robinson’s speeches on Presentation Zen that I’ve been reading regularly for a few years now. In his talk below he is speaking about creativity and education. If you have 20 spare minutes watch it, otherwise just read further.

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During my summer holiday I noticed the posters of the coming “Crazy Motorcycle Weekend”. The venue of the event was that very village where we have been with my family. I decided to go there and shoot a few gigabytes.
I just went there and asked at the check-in desk if it was OK If I go in for shooting. They told me OK and gave me a free pass for my word that I would send them from the photos I make in return. See the results clicking on the picture. Slightly NSFWish.

The music is from AudioJungle which is a great royalty free microstock music and sound store.

Even though Joe has just entered the photography books arena only a few months ago with “The Moment It Clicks” his new book is soon on the bookshelves.
The Hot Shoe Diaries - Creative applications of small flashes might not fill a niche market, since other authors have already published books about using remotely triggered speedlights in commercial or other photography, however I’m sure Joe McNally’s not yet released book is going to be an outstanding work with Joe’s unique voice, humor and not-that-technical terms (like adjusting flashes by WAG - Wild Ass Guess).

An other book that might be worth a look at is Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography by Kirk Tuck. Kirk discusses the topic from the history of lighting for photography through the right gear for location based shooting and closing with some real case studies.

One thing that Kirk has definitely overcome Joe is that Minimalist lighting has a beautiful woman on the cover while Joe’s book displays a half-naked man.

Yes, I made the investment and purchased a pair of slightly used studio strobes. Yes, it was an investment because I expect some money from them in the future. Hey, I’m a pro, right?
The strobes were advertised on a Hungarian discussion forum and are exactly the brand that I was planning to buy. Not anything fancy, but sturdy-looking  and sold with 3-year-guarantee as new from which 2 is still remaining for these used pieces.
It is actually a strobe set consisting of two strobes with light stands and reflecting umbrellas and a 100cmx100cm (roughly 40×40 in inches) softbox. (Power cables, sync cable and gear bags are also included.)

The strobes have a nominal power of 400Ws and adjustable between 1/64 and full power, their recycling time is supposed to be between 0.2 and 1.8 sec (not planning to measure it ) and the flash duration is 1/1000 sec. They can be fired by sync cable and as slaves (mastered by an other flash) as well.
The strobes were made in Korea and branded for the Hungarian distributor.

Even though light meters are dead to Chase Jarvis I purchased one to be used with my new set. It was the cheapest available on the Hungarian market (around 100 USD). It’s so cheap, that I managed to break its sync connector on the very first occasion of trying to use it. (It did not fire the flash on pressing the button, so I adjusted the connection and it happened.)
Not having a light meter did not stop me testing the things. I made a few shots checking the resulted histogram on the back of my camera, and modified the settings accordingly. Chase might have been right.

Stay tuned for my first shots with this equipment.

I’ve been reading Brad Moore’s blog for some time now. He is working as Joe McNally’s hard working assistant. Sometimes he makes mistakes, but other times he is very organized and cautious.
It is extremely interesting to read the other side of photography where the actual work happens. Where the photog shoots photos of more than 250 GB in three days and the assistant needs to download and backup the material and add copyright info very quickly making sure that nothing valuable is lost.

I was off for only two weeks and the full frame Nikon D700 and the new SB-900 speedlight is on the streets.