Pamela and the Comedy of Errors
On work shoots everything is prepared, everything is ready. Sometimes on impromptu shoots, things can be less organised. The other evening we had some Sun breaking through the evening cloud. In the hope of getting a repeat of the light with Aelita, I headed out with my buddy Dave Cooley and a model Pamela, in case we got lucky with it. Rather than drive to the excellent Fanore Beach, Dave had a location that was nearer, and only a '10 minute walk' from the car. I packed my stands and Octa, and threw in a shoot thru umbrella for Dave. We drove to the location and got out. Quick check revealed the first error: None of the 3 flashes that live in my were actually in my bag. Doh. No idea when or why they were taken out. Uh oh....#1."We're fine" says Dave. "I have my studio head and power pack here". "Do you have radio triggers for it?". "Of course". I check the Octa on the head, and of course the head is too big to fit properly. Uh oh.. #2.Fortunately I still have the shoot thru. It fits the head too. Great! So off we set. After 15 mins into our '10 minute walk', I look over at Dave and ask "Um.. you do have the power pack for this light?". Uh oh...#3.Dave offers to run back to the car, so we head on. In the end, he drives closer and catches up. The light is dropping and the Sun has decided it's had enough of breaking through clouds and whimpers off into the evening. 25 minutes of walking gets us to the spot, facing west for the glorious sunset clouds. We could've gotten to Fanore in that space of time.. but I digress. We start to set up and Dave pulls out the triggers. And then realizes that he doesn't have the adaptor for the studio light. Uh oh... #4.A search through the front pocket reveals a small flash, a Neewer TT520. The day is saved! I could've used the Octa with this, but the light is dropping, and the Octa is back at the car, so the shoot thru will be just fine.I should mention that Pamela was a trooper through all this. Even though Dave neglected to tell her about the '10 minute walk'-which was done in heels. On a rocky trail. That might count as #5, but it worked out ok.We had about 20 minutes swapping over the trigger before the light was almost gone. With a walk ahead of us in the near dark, we made our way back to the car to go home. Fortunately a lot closer than when we started! As you can see, we still got some nice photos despite all the ...errors.
