Running

Tweet So this is a slightly off topic post. My wife and I have decided to train for a 5k run. When I was first thinking about this I thought it had no relation to my photography. Then this morning it hit me training to run a 5k does have a lot to do with photography. Living healthy and having a healthy lifestlye reflects in your photography. I have found myself being tired after a day of shooting pictures. In reality this is really sad that I can be tired after a day of holding a camera up and moving lights around. It is by no means back breaking labor and really should not tire me out in the slightest. I have also heard other photographers complain of back pain and getting tired from holding a camera up. I have to encourage everyone to eat healthy and exercise. From time to time I will up date on how the running is going and maybe post some fitness tips. Remember that how you feel on set reflects the outcome.

What Nick Uses

Tweet People ask me all the time "What gear do you use?" This is a post dedicated to the gear that I use.

Canon EOS 1DMKIII

Canon 24mm f1.4

Canon 50mm f1.4

Canon 85mm f1.8

Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS

2 Alien Bee 800s

2 White Lightening Ultrazap 800s

1 Elinchrom Ranger RX AS Speed with S Head

Vivitar 285HV

Canon 580 EXII

2 Alien Bee foldable medium sized soft boxes

1 Alien Bee Beauty Dish

1 Speed-o-tron Beauty Dish adapted to Elinchrom mount

1 Elinchrom Deep Throat

1 Elinchrom shoot though umbrella

1 Westcot grey 24in umbrella

1 Alien Bee 64in PLM

1 Elinchrom ELOcta

2 4x8 California Sunboucne

Reflectors both the real photographic thing and rescue blankets

Pelican 1510 case for camera

Storm case of some sort for Alien Bees

Melvin and Moon grip bag

Old Tenba stand bag-way to heavy

Grip Stuff

Super clamps

Unbrella adaptors

Silks

A Clamps

Gaff Tape

A lot of extension cords

Power splitters

24in 2.7ghz iMac with 4gb of ram

Photoshop CS3

Lightroom 2.4

Adobe DNG Converter

Adobe Bridge CS3

Wacom Intous 3 6x8 Tablet

Sandisk Cardreader

Sandisk Extreme III cards both SD and CF

Gepke card case

A slew of hard drives from Western Digital, Sandisk, Maxtor and others.

Domke F1X

Domke F6

Domke F803 Rugged Wear

The above is the gear that I use pretty much everytime that I shoot. Below I have a list of suplimental gear that I use when I shoot for fun or when required by a client

Olympus RD-35

Toyo View C 4x5

Calumet 120mm f3.5

Mamiya 645 1000s

Mamiya 80mm f2.8

Mamiya 45mm f2.8

Tenba Road Case

Razzle 900

I buy the gear that I need to get the job done. From time to time I also rent gear. I use www.lensrentals.com to rent gear.

This is just a quick run down. I plan on posting a more complete list with pictures and maybe a few reviews later down the road.

Nick

Paul Buff PLM

Tweet A few months back I purchased a 64in Silver Paul C. Buff PLM. The PLM is my new favorite lighting modifier. I bought the PLM for a shoot for a community college. I bought it because I needed a big light source that was also light weight and portable, and had a small footprint. The PLM fit the bill perfectly. I also purchased the white front diffusion panel for it. It produces a great softlight when the front diffusion is on. It is also parabolic and allows you to use less power to get a good amount of flash output. With the front diffusion panel off it produces a nice contrasty light. Also the PLM is very afforadable at under $100 for the 64in. You can buy the PLM at http://www.alienbees.com/plm.html. I am in no way related to or funded by Paul C. Buff this is my unbiased review. I will post a few pictures that were made using the PLM later.

The new Mr. and Mrs. Rainer

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Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to shoot a wedding for some of my friends from college. I had the distinct honor to shoot the wedding of Price and Melanie Rainer. It was a great day. We were all surrounded by great friends and family to celebrate their special day.

Whiskerino Week 1

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So in week one of Whiskerino I skipped a few days of pictures but beard growth is coming along.

Whiskerino Begins

Tweet Yesterday I began an adventure in beard growth. I along with 399 other people registered for the third simi-annual Whiskerino. This is something that I have wanted to do since 2007. In 2007 I discovered Whiskerino when a bunch of my friends entered. Unfortunately in 2007 I found out to late about the contest. This year I registered with in 15 min of Whiskerino opening. You can follow my beard growth at http://www.whiskerino.org/2009/beards/bumgardner/

Wish me luck as my journey begins.