A look back on what happened in December and plans for the new year.
On 12th December we had the Christmas hairdo show at the Pivot Point hairdressing academy here in the city, which is an opportunity for the students to show what they have learned.
I was loaned a Profoto A1 flash for a few days and I was able to use it here. I won’t write a review about it, mainly because I didn’t have time to read the manual before I picked it up or even before I gave it back. However, I do think that’s an indication of how easy the flash is to use.
I used it the first day on TTL and the second day on manual. It is very easy to use: you press a button and turn the dial and then it’s operational. The dial also adjusts the power of the flash, which is far more convenient than my speedlite, where I have to press and hold buttons, which takes up valuable time.
It has a modelling light which is useful when adjusting the beam, done by rotating the head – which is where the accessories fit on a magnetic support. I found this system very useful, especially for one-handed use, but maybe it’s easier for the accessories to be knocked off as they are only held magnetically.
The flash is the quality I would expect for the price, it’s robust and well constructed. Possibly the only negative point for me is that the body moves the flash head higher, and therefore further away from the lens, than my speedlite (430EX ii) does, but having said that, it’s not a lot and I would prefer to use it off-camera anyway. I’m not a fan of flash except when it’s absolutely necessary and both of the situations I used it in, it worked excellently once I got the power dialled in.
And then later that week I was back with the hairdressing academy and we were at a charity fashion show doing the hair and make up. For the backstage parts, I used my speedlite and for the catwalk side I used the Profoto. I wasn’t sure how long the battery would last and I wanted the ‘better’ flash for the catwalk, but I needn’t have worried as after 40 minutes continuous use there was still about 70% of the battery left. If I used flash more, I would definitely buy one, but as long as my speedlite holds out I won’t be getting one. As a replacement I think it would be a very worthwhile investment.
On 23rd December we presented our Sínquisis project in a local venue and more people came than we expected. The presentation went very well, and despite all the nerves we had a good time. The percussionists played live to two videos, gave a demonstration of body percussion and then we ran the final video (below).
At the moment, we don’t have any more presentations planned but when we do work on the next one, we will avoid the things we don’t think work well and improve on what we have. After the success of this project, we have to keep the momentum going.
On the 29th I did the New Year’s Eve photo for the local hairdressing salon and on the 31st we did our traditional portrait of all the customers who had their hair done in the salon (at least all the customers who wanted to have their photo taken – interestingly the older customers were very happy but the 40 to 50 somethings didn’t seem so excited about the prospect).
And that’s it for December and 2018. One of the things I really should do in 2019 is get more photos on social media, I dislike Instagram but I think it’s a necessary evil.
Coming up in January: I have a couple of trips to snowy climes for different models and, weather permitting, a moonlight shoot with another model (and we will probably be doing some video/timelapse/timewarp.
Happy New Year!
