Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez

Lighting with new equipment good bad an ugly

 

above assistant Bennet Farkas standing in as I set my lights

Last month a friend asked me to start a big portrait project. 140 people in 3 cities. My first thought was "I need new lights!" I've been using Elinchrom Ranger Quadras and an Elinchrom 600 monolight happily for a couple years. But I knew I'd have to light entire office spaces so I wanted to add a couple extra monolights. While I like the 600 I'd always been bothered that it is 110volts only. Lots of my work does happen over seas so a multivoltage light seems better. The Elinchrom BX500Ri seemed to be the perfect light for me. Almost as bright as the 600, 90-220 volts, plus it takes the same flash tube as my Ranger Quadras. Sounds perfect so I ordered 2 along with a 27.5-Inch Rotalux Deep Octabox.

So are they perfect? Well maybe half perfect.

Earning a living, time and the Gitzo computer tray

photo by Bennet Farkas

When I first switched from film to digital I was shocked at the amount of time that digital photogrphy took out of my shooting day. Every day there was an extra 2-3 hours that I had to suddenly be renaming, downloading, backing up and captioning files. 2-3 hours out of what were already 14 hour days. That was time that I used to eat and sleep. At one NG meeting an editor said "listen I can not get that time back for you, it is gone..."

Breaking down

I just shot a CEO portrait in the office. I don't do these very often, but I always enjoy the challenge of taking a very busy person's portrait. 2 set ups, in and out in under 20 minutes. In my small studio it is challenging to say the least.

Stephen Alvarez

Sewanee, TN

creating new work

author Thomas Lakeman, Sewanee, TN March 2010

Anyone who has heard me talk about photography knows that I'm a proponent of working on multiple, unrelated projects at the same time. I've got a large NG project coming up. Lot of permission to get, lots of planning, lots of stress. So as a refuge while I am getting ready to move to Europe for the spring,  I've turned to portraits. 

Lighting Equipment

I’ve got a long history of lighting things for national magazines. Be it rock islands in Palau or reclusive explorers in Peru. One of my strengths has always been an ability to pack lights up, get them where they need to go and make them work on location. 

I’ve got a new assignment with new lighting challenges. That means new equipment! Here is a roundup of what I’ll be taking to Paris next month.