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my bozos
 I did some more work on my teeny studio space adding black plastic to the walls and ceiling to cut down on the yellow reflecting off the insulation. It worked. My kids came over for a group portrait last night. Obviously to much fun was being had. I have a Flickr set with more photos: My Bozos. I still have some more tuning to do with the lights. More pictures will be added to the set later. Today Jenny, Evan, and I went down to Auburn to visit my mom at her nursing home. She is doing better. She is getting physical therapy to get her walking again and she is improving. Jenny brought cheesy poofs. Jenny leaves tomorrow morning to head back to Colorado. I miss her and Evan already.
jenny and evan Last night Jenny and Evan came over for dinner and portraits.
 Jenny is my oldest. She's visiting with her 4 year-old son Evan. (William and 9 year-old Robyn are home at Fort Carson, Colorado. Robyn had to start school on Aug 11. That's wrong!) Zoe and I took them out to dinner at Mike's Place in Langley and then came back home for portraits in my newly cleaned mini portrait studio.
 More, and larger, pictures at this Flickr set: Jenny and Evan for dinner and portraits. Tonight I hope to have Jenny's sister and brother over for another portrait session.
portraits
 larger versions
I love doing portraits. Mostly I used available light because it was cheap and I didn't know how to use artificial light. For the last couple of years I've been working towards a studio set-up. Last night it came together. I've been working on clearing a space in the basement for the last couple of weeks. The last two days were more intense. Boxes to move and consolidate and stuff to throw out. All to make room for a backdrop and the strobes. I've been hanging out at Strobist for two years now soaking up information on how to light without a lot of money. When I first started looking at lighting, a photographer friend told me it would take around $3,000 for a studio strobe kit. I didn't have that kind of money and was thrilled when I discovered Stobist and what you can do with small hot-shoe flashes. This portrait was taken with 3 Vivitar 283s (average price $35 each) and a new Vivitar 285 HV ($90). The stands and umbrellas were also inexpensive. I use household cord for triggering the Vivitar 285 HV and Sonia optical slaves (average price $15 ea) to trigger the Vivitar 283s. This was a lighting test with all the flashes on full power. All the flashes have manual power settings. I set the 2 second self-timer and ran in front of the camera. It all worked! I'm using 53" wide seamless paper. 53" means shooting close for more than one person but it will work. The backdrop is Savage Black Velveteen wich stays black. I have rolls of Savage Super Black (reflects to dark gray) and Savage Super White arriving today. Jenny and Evan (daughter and grandson visiting from Colorado) will be my first subjects. It's been a long time getting to this point and a lot of satisfaction in arriving. Now the fun begins.
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