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"Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new
talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity
that was at hand."
~Bruce Barton~

 

Years ago I bought a portable battery pack that allowed me to bring
120 volt power with me, anytime, anywhere.

 

If I was willing to lug it around that is. You see, it weighed a ton.
(It was called the Vagabond from Paul C Buff, the same company
that manufactures Alien Bees and White Lightning, the only lights
I use in my studio.)

 

Anyhoo, after trying it out a few times, I simply got lazy,
and it sat there for years, in total neglect.

 

Alas! The good people over at Paul C. Buff have now come out
with a much simpler, easier and lighter solution. So, being a sucker
for portable power that is easy and light, I recently invested in their new version, called the
Vagabond mini.

Now this makes sense. I received mine only ten days ago
and already have used more often than when I owned the regular
Vagabond. The one that weighed a ton.

 

Here's what I love about the mini: It's small.

It's that simple. It's all about what works in the field. And this sucker
works. I charged it as soon as I got it, used it often, and the charge
still says full up. Cool. Very cool.

 

Now, the way I travel with it is what I like most. I use a super clamp,
attached this clamp to the mini and then to a stand. The stand, I might add,
is also from Paul C Buff. I love this company!

Here's the stand I used.a 13footer in case I need to reach way high!

 

Here I am on location at my wedding. The arrow is pointing to
the stand and the Vagabond mini. I can collapse this
stand and be mobile in seconds. No fuss, no muss.

 

And loads of power too. That's an Alien Bee 800 mounted on the stand, firing
bare bulb. If I need a softbox effect I have a shoot through light at the ready.
one that looks like this:

You can see two additional lights on either side. They are Nikon SB 800s
with the optical slave turned on. When the Alien bee fires, they easily pick up
all that light and fire as well. No pocket wizard required, except
for the transmitter on camera sending a signal to the Alien Bee

 

 

 

Here's the final effect. I need loads of fast, portable light to work against the
sun on days like this.....

 

 

Here's another sample where I used the shoot through umbrella:

 

 

There's so much more that can be done with this much available. It recycles
fast and seems to hold the charge forever. And it will take two lights.

 

But mostly, it's light and easy to carry. Very little risk of me
leaving it behind on most location shoots.

yours in photography,
Robert Provencher

We're having a party and you're invited!
November 18,19 and 20 in Nashville
are the dates to show up for success in photography