Hello Marchesa, goodbye Speedlights!

1 Craigslist post, $500, and literally 2hrs later, 3 of my 4 Canon speedlights were sold. I’ve finally made the switch to PocketWizards and AlienBees. Not the creme of the crop as far as strobes are concerned, but way more consistent and powerful. But more about that nerdy stuff in a future post.

Introducing Marchesa, being honored with the FINAL shoot using the family of speedlights. And I can’t think of a better farewell shoot. After getting Marchesa’s (Mar-ches-ah) name right over the phone, we were volleying ideas back and forth about our upcoming shoot. I’ve been dying to try this spot out down by the Long Beach ports. The area is an industrial playground, so when I saw this small patch of vegetation under a freeway underpass, my mind was racing.

After some testing around with the lights and compositions, I was hooked on these pipes surrounded by palm bushes.

Shooting through the palms, which gives the photo more depth. Oh ya I shaved my head mom.

Moving a little further back, and Marchesa being a little more brave, I aimed for a super wide angle shot. Personally I think it’s much more challenging to pull off a successful image where the subject is small, rather than filling most of the frame.

Again big props to Marchesa for getting a little dirty to make the shot. It’s not as easy as it looks.

A setup shot showing the scene. The forward-facing tripod had to be edited out in the final version.

One happy customer! Looking for a tall model? Well, I’m 6’4″ if that tells you anything. You get the idea.

The next shoot you see will be with my new lighting setup. View my website for high-res shots of this shoot.