The middle of No Where, California.

Have you ever driven to the middle of no where to hang out with family?

That's what I did two Monday ago. Athena's neice lives over in Lake Havasu, Az. She wanted to see us and we haven't seen the in a long time so, after some planning we decided to meet in Ludluw, CA. It's not much of a town, in fact there isn't a standing building even on Main Street. Ludluw is one of those old dying mining towns that still have a gas station and a cafe. The food was pretty bad but then again we shouldn't of had high hopes with a "B" rating from the health inspector.



However, there is some old burned down buildings and the old Mercantile building is barely still standing. So we all went out exploring. I tried doing some walking portraits as we went along.

Then decided I wanted a family portrait with everyone infront of the Merc. This part callapsed in one of Californias many earthquakes.



I set up one of my trusty sh-w Vivitar 285hv flashes connected to a PocketWizard classic. Shot through an umbrella on a light stand just out of the frame on camera left.



Here I used my lovely wife to model for me as I attempted to get the setting sun in the background and a nice portrait without using any flash.

Then we walked over by the railroad tracks and I used a voice activated light stand (thanks Josh) for these by the train. The sun had already set and I was trying to find a nice balance.



Even though Ludluw doesn't have much to do. Being in the middle on no where with some subjects, a camera and lighting gear you can make any place fun.


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Lightning in a bottle or was it bottles and lighting?

One of the nights I was out in California last week, I got together with some of my wife's old friends. It was the first time for me to meet all them so I had to make a good impression.

Avery & Joe opened their house up to everyone and we all hung out drinking beer, eating Avery's awesome lasagna and playing pool. I met so many really cool people that night. I know when we go back to Cali they be all good friends.



Somewhere along the night Athena and Avery convinced me it would be fun to pull out my camera & lighting gear and shoot some.



I bungee corded one of my specially hard-wired (sh-w) Vivitar 285hv flashes to the garage door guide rail on the right side of the garage. Then put another sh-w Vivitar 285hv onto a light stand on the the garage left. I pointed them both at the roof of the door to bounce the light off it. Using my PocketWizard Classics to fire the flashes I shot away.

This may have been a little lighting overkill for a garage party. But I enjoyed setting it up and I think it looks good. Plus it looked quite impressive to all my new friends.



Look I even pulled out the tripod and put the camera on timer so I could get in the shot. Then I strolled around that night shooting this and that.



The night was quite a blast and ended after lots of beers and way to many shots. I even walked backwards down their driveway. (which is steeper then Vail pass!) Then Athena drove me home.

Special thanks to Avery & Joe for throwing a great party.

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[b] inspirered

Have you ever done lunch with someone in your field that you admire? I have been following beckersblog.com for about a year now. [B]ecker is a professional wedding photographer out of Orange County, CA. I really like how open he is to sharing and helping out photogs who are starting out or trying to make it. To make that job all easier he started thebschool.com.

I signed up to thebschool about a month ago. It's an online community bringing photographers closer together. I've met some nice people on there already and have been learning and sharing with other like minded photogs. A week before I left for California I dropped [b]ecker a line saying I'd be in his part of the world, could I buy him lunch?

He quickly wrote back and lunch plans were made. Over the next two weeks I anxiously waited, trying to figure out what to say. I made several notes of questions I'd ask. When the time came it was like meeting an old friend. I knew so much about him from his blog that we talked for over an hour at P.F. Chang's.

[B]ecker didn't give away any magic formula or keys to the kingdom. He just Inspired me to get organized, get my business set up, and get out there and network. I walked away thinking it's more about having a good personality and making every situation a win - win for everyone involved, then taking the best shots everytime.

Thanks for going to lunch [b]ecker.