You think you've prepared for everything, but NOOOOOOOOOOO!
I spent 2 hours Saturday setting up for indivual portraits of 22 Irish
Dancers (my daughters' school) and a group. I borrowed the background from
a friend who runs a school portrait business. I setup my lighting with two
T-32's hooked to a Quantum battery on one umbrella as the main light, and a
T-20 on a small flat reflector as the fill. I took 20 test shots with
various apertures and lighting setups. I had the film run that afternoon
to look at the setups. They look good: OM4-Ti, 35-80/2.8, MD2, F/5.6,
lighting setup....I'm set. No more "Didn't you check this stuff before you
came? Next time, I'm going to hire someone else. Blah, blah."....from the
wife.
So I come back on Sunday morning when the girls are getting dressed; all 22
of them with their mothers. Lots of bright, super-colorful, shiny,
expensive dancing dresses (i.e., $1,000 each); perfect for the Portra 160
VC film I'm using.
So I drag the background back out. I setup the camera, and as I'm dragging
the main light stand out, a little girl runs into me and I lose control of
the light stand, it falls, and the mishap rips one of the flash shoes off
one of the T-32's, wires hanging out and everything. Grrrrrrrrr. I swear
under my breath and thank myself that I have a spare T-32 ("yea, that's
using the old noggin, huh?"). Now where is that flash in this
bag......Oh, geez---The spare's at home!! Aaaaaaaaaa!
WHAT TO DO?.......Use one light? No, the lighting ratio would be off,
negating my tests.....But hey, the wires look like they're still
intact....Maybe it still works?.... Naaa, I couldn't be THAT lucky....I
plug the T-32 into the battery and turn it on....Magic! It charges!...I
may be in business...
I look at my wife: "Hey, do you have that roll of black duct tape that we
use to tape up the girls' shoes?"....."Sure", she says .....OK, I can do
this.... I tear the tape into strips. Tape the shoe back onto the flash,
making sure not to obsure the mounting foot. Mount the flash. Cross my
fingers that it works when it gets up on the light....Ta da! The shoot
goes off without a hitch, all the flashes fire, and it looks like I'm a
hero (or we'll see today when the pictures come back).
===> OK, My big question? Do I glue the foot back on? If not, how do I
fasten it so that it's stable and secure? It didn't look cracked, only
that the studs were ripped out.
HELP!
Skip
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