Web Updates, Cool Assisting Gigs... Busy Summer

I've been pretty busy since my last post, so I figured I'd do a quick update to let the few of you who actually read this thing know what I've been up to lately.

First off, I've just added two new galleries on my website. "Salton Sea" and "Scratch".

The Salton Sea gallery is pretty self explanatory; it's a series of shots I took during a camping trip out there last year. The first and last images in that portfolio are each light paintings that I shot the last night I was there. They're pretty sweet if I do say so myself, so hit the website and check 'em out! Alright, now that I'm done stroking my ego... back to the business at hand.

Outtake 1

Outtake 2

This lucky little fella made the cut, so you can find him and all of his hommies at www.jamesfarrally.com

The portfolio titled "Scratch" is a little less obvious, but I think it's a pretty cool title that makes sense the moment the first image appears. It's a collection of photos I've taken of DJs during live shows along with a few images of the clubbers gettin' down. I'm pretty stoked with how it all came together, especially how well the gallery flows. Any thoughts or differing opinions are always welcome, so check it out and don't hesitate to get in touch and share your thoughts.

DJ Islas works his magic at Boulevard 3

Scratch Table Phones

Costumed clubbin' for a Halloween party at The Abbey

It's all in the hands... DJ Steve Aoki

This is for those nice Mac folks who don't know what color to paint the apple on their fancy little computers. DJ Guillermo Arce


So... What next? I think I'm going to work on a gallery of images from the live shows I've shot over the last couple of years. Below are a couple of shots I'm considering for this portfolio.

Halifax guitarist, Chris Brandt, on stage at the Key Club

Scott Ellis works the Drums for She Wants Revenge at the Avalon

Aside from all the work I've been putting into updating my website, I've also been assisting all summer. Since I left my regular day job in the spring, I've been scrambling to keep the cash flowing. It's a little unnerving to take that leap into freelancing without any assurances or guarantees that you'll be able to work enough each week to feed and clothe yourself. I've been pretty fortunate so far this summer by staying busy enough to keep my bills paid. One of the benefits of freelance work is the potential to land a pretty sweet gig every now and again. One specific shoot I'd like to share is a fashion gig I assisted on a few weeks back. The photog was shooting several editorials and a campaign launch for a large Make-Up designer, whose new line will be featured in Target stores in North America and Australia. We shot for 4 days in Palm Springs at some really suave joints, one of which was the former residence of Frank Sinatra! That's right ladies and gentlemen, I've chilled out on a couch... in the same room where "Ol' Bue Eyes" used to work his mojo! We did a few shots with the recent winner of Australia's Next Top Model at this really swanky pad. This is also where we shot the launch party on Saturday night. It was a really fun and interesting event, as well as a great learning experience too!

Speaking of assisting, lately I've had a few people ask me about how I go about getting hired as an assistant. So, when I've got a little more time, I think I'll dedicate an entire post to some of the methods and resources I've used to get work since going (back) to freelancing this last spring.

Til next time!

Website Update!

Hola folks!

I'm pleased to announce that I've just completed the first of several updates to my website.

www.jamesfarrally.com

I completely revamped the "Uncle Sam's Archive" portfolio. I used Adobe's Lightroom to retool some of the existing images and also added quite a few new ones to the mix. Personally, as far as post-production quality and image selection is concerned, I think the new gallery is a lot better than the older ones. Now all I need to do is fine tune the presentation order and this one will be done... at least for now! I'm so obsessive about my photography that I'm sure I'll want to "improve" these same images again in another year or so. In a world where your tools are continuously being upgraded, it's easy to get caught up constantly reworking old projects instead of letting go and moving on to something new!

Speaking of upgraded tools, Adobe has just released Lightroom 2.0, which can be purchased directly from their website for $299 ($99 to upgrade from version 1.4.1). So naturally, I now have to start all over again with my navy gallery and rework all the images I just uploaded... Naaaht! (Say it like Borat)

All jokes aside, the new version does look like a pretty sweet upgrade with some nice improvements over the first one. I'm especially interested in the ability to make localized adjustments, think Burning & Dodging.


Another interesting new feature is the ability to work with images archived across multiple drives/discs without the need to load what ever device they happen to be stored on.

Very cool stuff indeed!
More info available here.

But I digress; so, now that I've updated the Navy gallery on my site, which one should I start on next...

Lifestyle?

or Trash?

Okay, so maybe I don't actually have a whole portfolio of "trash" shots, but I do have a pretty extensive collection of neglected, uninhabited, and ignored spaces in my archive. The pictures from my Salton Sea trip come to mind. I'm also considering galleries for my Portraits, Music, and Personal work as well as a possible travel portfolio. I'm torn because I don't want to put too many galleries on the site, but I have a lot of images in a wide variety of areas that I'd like to show.

Ugh, decisions, decisions... Thoughts or opinions anyone?

Studio Strobe Pricing is Ridiculous!

Seriously!

In case you're wondering what the hell I'm ranting about, let me fill you in...

I just bought a set of monolights from Calumet. They're incredibly cheap, but they feel pretty solid, have a decent set of features, and use a reflector mount that fits accessories from one of the top strobe manufacturers in the world, Elinchrom.

The two kits I bought.
Not exactly Profotos, but it's hard to beat that price!

I purchased two separate kits, 1 kit with two 400ws lights and 1 kit with two 200ws lights, for a total of 1200ws of lighting split between 4 heads. I got all four lights with light stands and four 45" umbrellas for less than $1000, which is a steal by studio lighting standards. The lights have their issues and are definitely a little under powered for some professional work, but they cost me less than a grand! Besides, if I book a big job, I'll most likely be using rental gear anyway, in which case, these little lights would make pretty decent backups to some quality rental gear. Despite their lesser qualities, these guys are perfect for more relaxed, low pressure, portfolio shoots and small space location work. Think headshots in some ones apartment, house, or office.

These lights use an Elinchrom mount for accessories like reflectors, speedrings (for softboxes), grids and beauty dishes. Elinchrom is a manufacturer of some top quality lighting gear, which is both a blessing (great light modifiers) and a curse (they're very expensive). So, I've been pricing some of the above mentioned accessories to see how much my $1000 light kit will set me back for some good modifiers.

The Elinchrom Octa Light Bank, $1100... Daaaamn!
That's more than I paid for all 4 lights with stands and umbrellas.

During my research into the world of studio lighting, what amazed me most, was how expensive some of these items are. I mean, how can anyone justify paying $1100 dollars for an octagonal shaped softbox? I know that it creates really nice light, but $1100... really? It's just a big, fancy, reflective umbrella with a diffusion silk in front of it! I also find it hard to justify paying $250 for a decent 'regular' softbox; it's just a bunch of reflective fabric, some wire frame, and a translucent silk! (a tent for my lights to go camping, how quaint) $250 for a medium box is pretty rough, but $1100 dollars for the same thing except bigger and shaped like a stop sign... come on, it's ridiculous! As an independent business owner, I appreciate the need to add in the costs of R&D, marketing and a host of other administrative duties that most people can't or don't undersand about running a profitable business, but $1100 for a big octabox is pretty ridiculous no matter how well it's made. I can justify the "some" of the high cost of premium lights, but is it really necessary to gouge us consumers with the smaller, lower production cost items?

Since Calumet was nice enough to design a light that doesn't allow 7" grids to be used when the modeling light is in place, my only real option for a grid set costs about $200. Damn you Calumet, whyyyyyy!!!

$155 for a big pan; but oh how nice the light is...

Really, a metal ring with a few screws costs that much?
Luckily, since speedrings are pretty common items, there are a few low cost options for obtaining one.

Actually, I bet most of these companies make more 'profit' on softboxes and umbrellas than they do on their lights. Fortunately, I may have found a decent replacement for the octa-bank in question. I'll be sure to post more info once I'm sure that the supplier is reputable and the equipment is of decent quality.

I know that there's some truth to the phrase, "you get what you pay for." However, just because something is expensive, doesn't guarantee that it's high quality and even if it is, that doesn't mean that there aren't better 'values' out there. When I deal with potential clients who question my rates, I try to point out the 'value' I bring to the equation. I consider the same thing when buying photography equipment; value, not just price! In the end the only thing that really matters is what works for you and your specific style of creating images and what you 'value' when looking for equipment.