#the bag of them i bought a few years ago was a 250 pack but ive lost a few and also found some of my old ones since then

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

Finally got my ukulele mounted to the wall

[waynebomberger]

On the NASCAR Circuit with Sugarlands Distilling Co.

There’s something about horsepower belching out of a V8 that kicks on an adrenaline switch in my body. The raw power of an internal combustion engine that’s been tuned to perfection holds all sorts of promises of adventure, and it’s with real difficulty that I sometimes drive cars that don’t have the ability to accelerate like I just broke the law.

Some of my first tinkering projects involved rebuilding these engines and cars with my dad. He bought a pickup truck that had a dragster engine, and I learned a lot about the mechanics behind these machines along the way. The most important lesson I learned was that the more power you produce, the easier it is to break, which is how I became proficient at fixing things.

I broke a lot of expensive parts (sorry, Dad) learning how to mash the throttle, bang a clutch and burn rubber. I wouldn’t trade those days for anything.

I grew up reading Car Craft and Hot Rod magazines, JEGS catalogs and shop manuals. I spent most of my teens working on and racing that pickup truck, a 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass, and some of my friends’ cars and boats. And I religiously watched top fuel funny cars and NASCAR on television.

The roots of the trend of engine modification for maximum speed are deeply intertwined with the Prohibition era because bootleggers needed to outrun the cop cars while they ripped up and down Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee on delivery runs of distilled corn nectar.

The history of moonshine, outlaw brewing and hot rods is a fascinating glimpse into a time that, while unfortunate for the folks who enjoyed a stiff drink, produced three carburetor engines called “six-packs,” innovative suspension systems for high-speed turns and a culture that endures to this day.

This tie between NASCAR and moonshine was something we dove deep into when we traveled the length of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail two years ago. It was also then that we met the fine people behind Sugarlands Distilling Co. in the Great Smoky Mountains town of Gatlinburg and fell in love with the products they serve up in their 10,000-square-foot tasting room, both full flights of samples and liquor-by-the-drink specialties (try the one with Cheerwine, and just trust us on this).

Going to My First NASCAR Race

Sugarlands is the official moonshine for NASCAR so it was a natural marriage for us—lovers of distilled spirits and the rocket cars that were spawned from them—to visit the iconic track at Bristol for a taste of the action.

We had Hot Passes for the race, which included access to the pre-game pit setups, pace-car laps and a VIP suite overlooking the start/finish line. Being the first of the day to take full-throttle runs on the empty track in the newest version of the Chevy Camaro was a real treat and surprisingly fun for Kristin, who normally freaks when I reach ludicrous speed in my own hot rod.

The racetrack at Bristol, Tenn. is one of the shortest on the NASCAR circuit and is memorable for its steeply banked turns and roaring thunder of noise from 40 hotrods zipping around the stadium.

Naturally, I was in heaven.

Wait until we go to the raceway at Talladega! That track is one of the longest of NASCAR, and the stock cars get up to 200 miles per hour on the regular.

For those of you looking to recreate our NASCAR weekend, Sugarlands Shine 250 will be held on Oct. 12 in Talladega and is the perfect place for next level super speedway action.

  Tailgating at NASCAR

Tailgating is a rite of passage in the South, one I wasn’t introduced to until I met Kristin and started attending UT football games with her at Neyland Stadium. The parking lots surrounding any NASCAR event are full of grills, coolers and full bar spreads, but we made do with a bag of ice, a couple of cups and Sugarlands’ latest elixir, the coconut-and-childhood-memories elixir of fruit juice in a box called Cole Swindell’s Pre Show Punch.

We sipped a few pre-race drinks from the boot of Kristin’s Jeep while entertaining the idea of traveling to Charlotte, N.C. for Cole’s concert at the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race on May 19. Cole’s also on the Sunset Repeat tour with Luke Bryan for you country music fans looking to share a pre-show shot with him; we were at one of his shows in Nashville each month when he told us this collaboration was born out of his own pre-show ritual (makes sense, right?).

But NASCAR fans go all out where tailgating is concerned. Not only do they camp out in the parking lots of the racetracks, but they even take coolers stuffed with booze inside the grounds with them. Coolers are allowed inside the speedways, but can be no larger than 14 inches by 14 inches by 14 inches. This is polar opposite from what I have experienced at NCAA and NFL games where you’re patted down and prohibited from so much as sneaking a mini-bottle in.

Making Our Own Sugarlands Shine Cocktails

Sugarlands has a deep well of recipes available on its site, but we were loading up the Jeep to go to NASCAR for the day, so I also set up a mobile bar of sorts, throwing in a mixer here, a garnish there, and created my own race-day concoction.

In all honesty, the 50-proof Pre Show Punch is really great just on its own. All you need is a cup and some ice, and you’ve got yourself a pre-made drink, perfect to sip when you’re on the go and don’t want to pack up your entire home bar. But I wanted to up kick it up a notch and moderate some of the sweetness of the base moonshine, so I brought along a little vodka, sparkling water, pineapple and pure lemon juice.

The Hot Gas Punch

1 cup Cole Swindell’s Pre Show Punch

1 cup vodka

2 cups sparkling water

½ cup pineapple juice

2 shots of pure lemon juice

This drink is best made in batches, so keep the ratio about the same, and whip up a pitcher to share. Stirred, not shaken.

Back home, I got into the mixologist spirit once more and started whipping up another cocktail with a flavor we had on the shelf. Kristin has always been a fan of the classic Tennessee milkshake, the Bushwhacker, and I’m nothing if not creative in keeping her entertained. I came up with my own spin on it, using one of her favorite flavors: hazelnut.

The Squirrel Smuggler

2 cups Sugarlands Shine’s Mark & Digger’s Hazelnut Rum

2 cups coconut cream

2 cups Graeter’s vanilla ice cream

2 cups ice cubes

Swirl of chocolate syrup in the glass

Grated nutmeg

Dump all of the ingredients into a blender, mixing until the liquid is the consistency of a milkshake. Drizzle chocolate syrup into a glass and pour the mixture from the blender to the rim.

Garnish with grated nutmeg (optional, though we have some delicious nutmeg leftover from Grenada we are always looking for an excuse to use).

Interested in making your own shine cocktails? Sugarlands Distilling Co. is sponsoring a raffle giveaway of their swag for a lucky C&C reader! Simply tell us in the comments what your favorite cocktail is to make from home, check the box that you’ve done so below, and we’ll choose a winner to get a gift bag that includes T-shirts, cups, flasks, gift certificates and other Sugarlands swag.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This project was sponsored by Sugarlands Distilling Co. All opinions are our own.

  PIN IT HERE

from Camels & Chocolate: Travel & Lifestyles Blog http://bit.ly/2vcT7l3

[emilyslifeinlondon]

Tuesday May 9-Sunday May 14 Woohoo, today's the day Mary comes!!! After graduating from UConn on Sunday the 7th, Mary unpacked all of her college belongings only to re-pack for London. A few of the many things we did over the last 5 days: -Stonehenge 🗿 -Sketch -Oxford St 🛍 -Westminster -Platform 9 3/4 -Bowling w CIEE 🎳 -Afternoon tea at The Orangery 🍵 -Matilda 🔮 -221B Baker St -SSE Women's Cup Final ⚽️🏆 I took the tube to Heathrow and ended up picking Mary up at her terminal. I (as well as the Heathrow staff) was confused about whether or not a flight from Dublin was considered international or not, so I stood on the opposite side of where I was supposed to be until Mary texted me saying she had collected her luggage and was waiting. She also said she hadn't gone through customs and wasn't sure if she should go back in. I was shocked since border control is quite strict in the U.K., but since Dublin isn't considered an international flight, Mary had technically gone through customs in Ireland. We took the tube back home and went straight to King's Cross/St. Pancras to board a train to Salisbury, en route to Stonehenge! The train ride was about 1 1/2 hours and before we knew it, we were in Salisbury. We boarded the Stonehenge tour bus (it takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the Visitor's Center) and got to listen to some audio that gave us more information about the site and neighboring town. We hopped off at the visitor's center and grabbed a quick bite to eat. I got a steak pie which was delicious, and Mary got a sandwich that she really enjoyed! We picked up our tickets and boarded a golden bus to the actual rocks. The ride was short and once we got off the bus, the rocks were only 100 feet in front of us. I had heard that the audio tour was something worth getting, so we had our little telephone like sets and made our way around the area; since the ground isn't stable enough to support thousands of people, you can't actually walk through the rocks, but you can get pretty close. We listened, took a break sitting, snapped lots of pics, and had a great afternoon! We spent some time in Salisbury and went to The King's Head (pub recommended by the bus driver) for dinner and I got tomato soup and (spicy 🌶) wings. We boarded the train back to Waterloo in London, and only 15 minutes later I couldn't find my phone. I went through my whole backpack and checked under my seat and it wasn't there. I was panicking and knew it had to be at the train station since I had used my phone for directions from the pub to the train station. We got off at the next stop and had to wait and excruciating 40 minutes for the next train back to Salisbury. I ran through the station back to the bench we had been sitting on before we got onto the train and my phone was sitting right there where I had left it. God, am I lucky or what?! It's safe to say I had a good night's sleep that night. We got back to London an hour later than we had anticipated and went right to bed. The next morning we met up with Christine and Amanda at Sketch, a fancy restaurant in London right off of Oxford street. Sketch is known for its pink tea room and egg pod bathrooms. I had toast and bacon for breakfast which was good but nothing special. After waiting until the tea took opened, we finally made our way to the iconic bathroom. It was so cool! I accidentally used the men's side but how can you really tell when the pods all look the same? We took lots of pics and then Mary and I walked around Oxford and Bond street. Mary bought some Chelsea boots and Schuh and I got some tanks and a pair of jeans at New Look. I also got a waffle with chocolate sauce, strawberries, and Nutella ice cream which was delicious! I had class in the afternoon, so Mary went to the British Museum which is conveniently right across from CIEE, where I have class. We went to Pizza Union for dinner and then headed to Chinatown after for bubblewrap, basically ice cream in a waffle. The line wasn't too long, maybe 25 minutes or so, and the dessert was so good! I was surprised by how tasty the waffle was- it was sweet, warm, and soft. We walked around Chinatown/Soho for a little bit but it was chilly so we headed back to Chapter afterwards. On Thursday morning I had class, so Mary slept in and went to the British Library (only a 5-10 minute walk from Chapter). We explored Westminster, walking by the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and ended up at Buckingham Palace after walking through Saint James Park, enjoying all of the birds and ducks. After getting off at King's Cross we waited in line to get our picture at Platform 9 3/4. Mary and I got our jumping pic. We were both exhausted and rested for a few minutes before walking back to CIEE in Bloomsbury for the farewell dinner. We met up with everyone and walked to dinner which was at a bowling alley! We were served lots of small appetizers ranging from crab cakes, pulled pork sandwiches, fried chicken on skewers, and fried mac & cheese balls. I had a handful of pulled pork and chicken as well as a beer and 1/3 a (fruity & delicious) cider I shared with Mary. After eating, we all picked teams and started bowling. Although I hadn't been bowling in some 5-10 years, I was better than I thought I would be. There were no bumpers, and I ended up with 70. Pretty bad but I was happy I actually knocked some pins down. We were exhausted after waiting some 20 minutes for the tube home. Since it was the last night everyone in the program would be together, we all went out. Mary decided to stay in, and as much as I wanted to join her I knew that I would have regretted it had I not gone. I also had a lot of tequila and a whole bottle of wine that I didn't want to waste. Our group basically took up half the dance floor at some point, and we got 2 free shots since they overcharged me at the door. That morning Mary and I got afternoon tea at The Orangery. I wasn't able to make my 9 am class, but don't worry, it was only a walking tour and James had said that it wasn't mandatory. I had book an appointment for 11:15 am, but they didn't start afternoon tea until noon, so we had something small to hold us over until 12:00. I got some Royal something (I forget the name, lol) tea and it was delicious! I never used to be a fan of tea, but I enjoyed it the last time I was in London two years ago. We had little sandwiches, scones, and desserts. They portions are tiny but with all of the food you're sure to be full at the end. After tea, we walked around Hyde Park for a bit before heading to Harrods. I wasn't able to go the last time I was in London and although I can't afford anything in the department store, it was cool walking around and starting at all of the chocolates that cost £90 a box. We headed back to Chapter afterwards and rested for a few minutes before walking back to the GI for my last class! We just watched some British news comedy show for an hour or so before he ended class early (thank god). We met up with Christine and Rex at a pub nearby for fish & chips before heading to Cambridge Theatre to see Matilda. Matilda is quite new to the stage and everyone at the ticket office had said that it was wonderful and that they highly recommended it. I'm not sure where to begin by describing the play, I'll start by saying that it was somewhat strange but in a good way. Some of the music numbers were fantastic and the choreography was well done! Most of the cast consisted of children, and Miss Truchbull was played by a man. The play was very funny at times and the actors that played Miss Trunchbull and Mr. Wormwood were perfect for the role. We also got some Oreo McFlurries after the show! It was so stressful packing the night before moving out but thankfully Mary was able to fit a good amount of my winter clothes and jackets into her suitcase! After scrambling around to fit three month's worth of stuff into a mere two suitcases and a backpack, alas I got the suitcases zipped by sitting on them! However, my large suitcase was a jaw dropping 72 lbs! I was dying laughing. How did I possibly accumulate more than 25 lbs worth of stuff?! I bought a few jackets and clothes, but I didn't think they would have amassed a shocking 25-30 lbs. Who knows. We left our bags behind the front desk and walked around Covent Garden, where we got brunch at a cute diner. I was exhausted after getting about 5 hours of sleep, so thanks to Mary's suggestion, I got a mocha to help wake me up. I was surprised that I liked it! We both had a great breakfast and proceeded to make our way to the Covent Garden market area. Mary had some Ben's Cookies (so delicious & gooey) and then we took the tube to Baker Street (221 B) aka the Sherlock Holmes door. We got our pics and then headed back to Chapter to grab our bags to check into our Airbnb. Silly us, we took the tube and DRL with all of our luggage when we should have just taken an Uber and paid the £20some pounds it would've cost. Lugging my freaking heavy suitcase up and down stairs at the tube stations was a nightmare. Luckily, some people helped me out a lot by carrying my large luggage for me since the lifts were under construction, of course. We finally checked in and had a little while to rest before leaving for Wembley Stadium. We had ticket to see the SSE Women's FA Final Cup! I had hoped to go to a premier league men's football game but either the game was too far away or too expensive (£250+ per ticket). Regardless, we were both really excited. It took a while to get there since there was so much traffic, but we made it a few minutes after the game started. When they announced that Carli Lloyd had scored one of the goals for Manchester City against Birmingham, Mary and I turned to each other in shock and I quickly googled her to see if it was indeed her! We love watching the World Cup, and both love the USA Women's Soccer Team! After finding out that Carli Lloyd was playing on the field only 50 feet in front of us, we were a lot more engaged and excited. During halftime, we got hotdogs (mine was a pulled pork dog) and were surprised that halftime was only 15 minutes or so. The final score was 4-1 Manchester City v Birmingham, and the game brought in a record crowd of over 35,000. We got ice cream on the way back at a gas station (there were no restaurants/ice cream shops near the Airbnb) and hung out/packed since Mary was set to leave early the next morning. 6 am came all too early when we had to wake up, and learning from our mistake, we took an Uber to the airport. I dropped Mary off at her terminal, said goodbye, and walked to the next terminal to wait for Emily to arrive! It was a whirlwind of week with Mary! We did so much in only 5 days, didn't get enough sleep, ate a lot of food, saw Stonehenge, and had an amazing week! I was so glad (and really excited) that I got to share a place so important to me with my sister.

[paharvey99]

No Waitrose October 6 – Days 5 and 6

Day 5

The weekend. As previously noted, we’re currently trying to move house, so we decided to have a boring weekend doing boring things that need doing. The three year-old we live with was in need of some colder weather clothes, largely because her entire wardrobe is made up of summer dresses. This led to a decision to go to Morrison’s in Worthing to take full advantage of the Nutmeg range of children’s clothing.

We drove to Worthing via Portslade, to see if we wanted to live in Portslade. We didn’t want to live in Portslade.

By the time we eventually got to Morrison’s it was lunchtime, so we had lunch in the café (baked potatoes all round, didn’t cost much over a tenner) before hitting up the rest of the store. I love a big shop and will quite happily idle in the aisles for hours. The person I live with cannot abide this sort of behaviour, so at the first sign that I’m dawdling she starts trying to hurry things along. I did try to be quick this time, but then I got waylaid by the butcher and ended up staring at beef brisket for a good while. Somehow we made it out without too much fuss, although thanks to the Nutmeg bonanza the bill came to more than £100.

On the way home we stopped off at St Mary’s Church in Sompting, which I have been looking to visit for a while. It has a Saxon tower topped by a Rhenish helm, a four-sided pyramid-style gabled cap that is uncommon in England (yes, that’s from Wikipedia). The layout is a bit weird as well, but I don’t know enough about churches to explain why.

The three year-old we live with was asking to go to the park (she’s not completely into churches, all told), so we drove over the hill to Steyning, which is a very pleasant old town that we assumed would have a park. Julia Donaldson lives there, I’m surprised it doesn’t have signs up proclaiming it Gruffalo Country. It did indeed have a park, so we had a play and then went to a doll’s house shop that was a bit weird, and then went home.

I made beef brisket for tea, it was partly inspired by a recipe in a German cookbook my sister (older) bought me for my birthday. It’s by a woman called Anja Dunk and it’s got all kinds of exciting cabbage and quark recipes in it and I love it. The person I live with is very suspicious of it though, she doesn’t like German food and is constantly alert to any efforts on my part to sneak German food past her. I made beef brisket with marjoram, cabbage and courgettes with caraway seeds and paprika, and mashed potatoes with chives. Not entirely German, not entirely un-German either. There were no complaints though, phew.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.

Day 6

The second day of our boring weekend of not doing much. In the morning I did loads of cooking, which was brilliant. First up I made chocolate ice cream with the three year-old I live with. My sister (younger) bought me an ice cream maker for my birthday. I’d been looking into getting an ice cream maker for a while. Turns out there are two main kinds: a fancy kind that costs about £250 or a cheaper kind that costs about £30. Online reviews led me to believe the cheaper kind wasn’t what I was after, but neither did I fancy spending £250, so I had pretty much decided against getting one. Then my sister bought me one, which was a total result, as it meant I got to try one out for free. And it turns out they are brilliant.

I can’t tell you how much I love my ice cream maker. Being able to create ice cream at any given moment, it makes me feel like some kind of god. Watching it churn and turn from custard into ice cream is unspeakably thrilling. Plus freshly churned ice cream has an incredible texture, it’s even more dangerously edible than normal ice cream. I want to try out a savoury ice cream, I’m thinking blue cheese with honey and walnuts. There’s probably a good reason you can’t get that flavour normally, but I want to give it a go anyway. Today though, I made chocolate ice cream and the three year-old I live with and I ate a load of it and got told off by the other person I live with, oops.

I also slow-roasted pork shoulder with ginger and made some cauliflower cheese for lunch. I would have happily just had cauliflower cheese for lunch, but the person I live with said that was weird and we needed stuff with it, so I gave her and the three year-old I live with some of the leftover mash with chives from last night. Brilliantly, the three year-old I live with took exception to the chives, probably because they are green and different, and so I started picking chives out of her mash. But then in a display of munificence she declared that she now liked chives, and my labours came to an end. Lesson learned though; don’t spring chives on a toddler.

After lunch the pork shoulder was ready and by some fluke I had absolutely nailed the crackling. My dentist told me after fitting a crown a few years ago that I wasn’t allowed to eat crackling, but it was the kind of crackling that you can’t let go to waste, so I chanced it and got away with it. In fact, my teeth felt more than up to the challenge, which was a surprise. A few years ago I switched to Sensodyne and it’s really paid off. I took the decision to invest in my teeth through the toothpaste and that investment has resulted in fewer trips to the dentist and the ability to eat crackling again. I’m not going to get too cocky about it though, that’s asking for trouble.

After the crackling we went into town to buy a load of stuff at Robert Dyas, namely vacuum pack bags, bathroom descaler, bin bags, masking tape, felt pads for furniture legs and moth killer spray. It ended up being around £50 – turns out boring weekends are also expensive, which is a bad combination all round.

The three year-old we live with is potty training at the moment. She’s pretty much out of nappies except at night, so every outing is soundtracked by a constant refrain of “Do you need a wee? Do you need a wee? Don’t forget to say if you need a wee.” Poor girl. She made it to the shops and back and was absolutely fine.

I cooked some pasta and peas and stirred them through the leftover cauliflower cheese for the three year-old I live with’s tea. Sounds like a cop out, but she loved it, so there. Then I made some ginger five spice pork and veg thing with rice for our tea that was vaguely Chinese and pretty tasty actually thanks.

In the evening we tried to fill out some forms for the estate agent and it almost broke our minds, it was so tedious. Seriously, we had to dig out our lease and check if we’re allowed pets and to sublet and things like that, at least one of us fell asleep halfway through.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.

[lumenatic]

-Preface- Liebe Leser, normalerweise schreibe ich diesen Blog auf Deutsch. Da ich diesen Artikel aber speziell für die Mitglieder eines amerikanischen Motorradfotografie-Forums erstellt habe, ist er auf Englisch. -End of preface-

I am in a motorcycle photography group on Facebook, the Motorcycle Photographers Forum. One of the administrator is a professional photographer who makes a living out of motorcycle photography – Don Kates from Shooters Images. In one post he shared an insight on his lighting setup and equipment. He uses only the most exquisite equipment which lives up to the highest standards of magazine photography. While the list is mouth-watering, it is not the standard gear collection the masses use due to the high cost. With this post I am sharing my gear collection in order to give another viewpoint. Please keep in mind that this does not have to be the best solution in the world. It works for me personally, but yet I am still constantly looking for ways to improve my workflow with better (or other) tools.

Disclaimer DO NOT FOCUS ON GEAR! The slogan sounds corny, but the gear is just a tool and YOU are the one creating the image. I maintain that any DSLR and mirrorless on the market is technologically capable of capturing great images. What you need to know is how to manipulate and set the light. End of disclaimer.

Enough of the introductory blabla, here we go!

Lighting

My lighting equipment consists of standard Nikon Speedlight strobes. I own two SB-800s, one SB-910 and a SB-700. The strobes are small, light, and powerful for their size. If you buy the flashes second hand they might cost 200-250 Euro per piece (230-290 USD). They are powered by four AA batteries and those last a several hour long shooting if fully charged.

The Speedlights are triggered with Yongnuo flash triggers. They are cheap (35 Euro/40 USD per piece) and reliable. Before I owned the radio triggers I fired the flashes with the Nikon CLS system, which means that the popup flash of the camera acts as the commander, sending out a kind of morse code to the slave flashes. That worked pretty well for a while, but since I had issues triggering when shooting out on an open field (the light got lost in the surroundings), I decided to go for the radio triggers.

Light formers

I am either using 80×80 cm softboxes (31,5×31,5 inch) or – start throwing tomatoes – no light former at all (more on that later).

The softboxes have a popup design (you know, like those spring-loaded tents you throw into the air, they fold out and you never know how to fold them back). The one I use are from Neweer, they are cheap (again around 40 USD each) and well made for the money. They are very portable as they do not take up much space and can be assembled in roughly a minute.

Pro tip: When packing the softbox back up, take out the diffusor screen before folding the softbox to avoid wrinkling of the fabric. Gently roll up the diffusor screen and pack it separately. These wrinkles will leave „trails“ in reflections of closeup shots as the wrinkles will appear a little darker than the smooth part of the fabric. Yes, you can also get rid of that in post, but with a little effort – rolling the screens – you can save time in post.

A while ago I used shoot-through umbrellas (see title image), but ditched those as they leave ugly reflections and are even more prone to falling over in the wind than softboxes.

As stated above, sometimes I use no light former at all. I employ this every time I do not want or need these big reflections on the painted parts. Then the flashes are “naked” on the light stands and off we go. Here is a good example of the flashes being fired without light formers. The matt finish of this Ducati Diavel Dark lights up very nicely with the flashes being so far away. From this distance an even light pattern reaches the bike, and the matt finish of the bike does not show punctual reflections (on a glossy finish the flashes would leave a small white dot as a reflection, if they are visible at all).

Lighting setup

Lighting is a complex issue with countless possible variations. If I had to compress my most freuqently used setup into a paragraph, it would read like this:

My standard setup consists of two flashes, one to the left, one to the right. Sometimes I use a third flash to give the background an additional dash of light. Most of the times I aim the light towards the bike in a steep angle, so that the contours come out nicely.

My rule of thumb for setting the lights is to determine which parts of the bike are exposed to the camera and then aim one light at each main body. If you are shooting a side view, one flash aims at the front half of the bike, the other at the rear half. If the front of the bike is facing the camera, one flash takes the bike head on, the other one illuminated the side of the bike.

Tripods and stands

My camera tripod is a Manfrotto carbon fibre one. The aluminum one I had before was also very good, but since I like cool stuff I bought the carbon fibre version 😊 I use a Novoflex MagicBall head. It is heavy, but absolutely robust. Due to the simple twist-and-align action you can compose the image very quickly. Also I like the blue colour of the ball 😉 On the downside you can break your fingers when tightening the screw. Also hooting in portrait mode is not possible with this head, unless you have a lens bracket. When turning the ball head sideways to achieve portrait mode, the weight of the lens forces the camera to rotate downwards (because you can’t tighten the screw enough with your fingers, so those two things are connected)

I use standard foldable lighting stands, see image to the right behind the doggo. They (the light stands) are cheap and do the job, but without sandbags they are prone to falling over when wind is blowing. If I were using studio flashes instead of small camera strobes, I would opt for the more robust C stands. But since the Speedlights and the softboxes I use are comparatively lightweight, the standard light stands are good.

Hauling the stuff

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Peli 1560 with padded dividers. Has rollers and an extendable handle

I prefer to be mobile on a shoot, so I tend to change the location during a shooting several times. Sometimes we only move a metres, sometimes a few dozen or a hundred, but nevertheless all the equipment needs to be moved from one place to the next. I have two big cases for all my stuff. The first one is a Pelicase with a padded divider inlay (Peli 1560. 51x39x23cm, 20×15,3×9″). Note: Those are sewn divider pads, not the foam system. This holds all the cameras, lenses, batteries, flashes, radio triggers, a small travelling tripod and all the auxiliary stuff a photographer needs like filters, a blower to clean the lens etc.

  A studio equipment case. holds lighting stands, softboxes and lightpainting equipment. Bulky thing.

The second box is a studio suitcase, here all the tripods and light formers find their home, also the Yongnuo YN360 LED stick I use for lightpainting. Moving both boxes at the same time is not practical, so an assistant comes in handy (or you have to run twice). I am not that happy with the studio case. It is so big that it does not smoothly fit in the back of my car (Toyota Verso family van). Also the sewn on carrying handles are not well placed. if you pull the box by one handle only the seams will protest. I’ve heard one or two stitches pop already, let’s see how long this lasts.

What I found to be very handy is the use of a collapsible cart like the one on the left. It folds to a very compact size and can hold quite some equipment. The photo was taken before I got the Pelicase, so my equipment is crammed into a box usually used to buy groceries (yes, that’s very basic). The Peli 1560 fits snugly into the cart with some 20 cm left to one side. Only the transport of tripods and stands is problematic, as they won’t fit in the cart. I already thought about using two hooks on the side, onto which tripods can be placed, but did not realise this solution (also because this is not my cart, it belongs to our neighbours :-D).

Cameras and lenses I shoot Nikon full format, owning a D800 and a D750 with a variety of lenses. The D750 is my workhorse and I like it a lot as it is a little slimmer than the D800 and it has a tiltable screen, which I use very frequently. I am blessed to own the „holy trinity“ of Nikkor lenses, the 14-24 f/2.8, the 24-70 f/2.8 (workhorse) and the 70-200 f/2.8 (should use that more often). I also have some other lenses like a fisheye and a 150-600 mm Tamron, but those I use seldom for motorcycle photos.

Bottom line I hope this post gave you an insight look on the technical and logistical aspects of my photo shoots. This post is meant to give you a perspective on what a set of lighting equipment could look like. I am constantly searching for better options, but this is the setup I’ve been shooting with all year long and it worked fine.

Recently (as in “this week”) I bought battery powered studio flashes, so a major shift in the lighting equipment is imminent. After collecting first experiences with this new equipment there might be changes in the logistics (bags, cases) again. Always strive for the better!

Motorcycle photography equipment -Preface- Liebe Leser, normalerweise schreibe ich diesen Blog auf Deutsch. Da ich diesen Artikel aber speziell für die Mitglieder eines amerikanischen Motorradfotografie-Forums erstellt habe, ist er auf Englisch.

[starchild-existence]

americano - three

It occurs to him that he could’ve done something great with himself if he’d had the chance. Might have. Should have. Aren’t all my-life’s-a-failure sob stories like that? “If I was this, did that,” “if somebody gave me the chance…”

Excuses, all of it.

He stops at the corner store and buys a 3-pack of boxers, AA batteries, a lint roller (because unlike him, his roommate has a job and a uniform to keep clean), and some hard candy he used to like.

The cafe is buzzing. People come and go. He sits at the corner table—it feels safe—and waits for the rush to end.

That morning, he’d put his contacts in for the first time since move-in day. It took ten minutes. When he finally got them to stay, he blinked up at the mirror. His eyes were red, inflamed, and there were tears running down his face. Funny. The first time he’d cried in a year, just because of eye irritation.

Funny.

He gets his coffee and dumps in two zero-cal sweeteners. (They’re about 2 calories each.) Back to the table. Now, he’s the only person there, but damn, is it loud. The TV, the radio, the scratch of chairs while the cashier tidies up…

His mind goes to the plastic bag sitting next to him. He reaches inside. There are 30 calories in every piece of candy. The first ingredient is sugar. One piece = 5% of the daily recommendation of fat. If he ate 1000 calories a day, that’d be 10%. But he doesn’t. Maybe it’s closer to 20%.

He thinks again about wasted potential. It’s not “untapped” anymore; he’s too old for that bullshit. He’s just another nobody stuck in the state uni system, wandering around a little college town, pushing off his homework until tomorrow. Nothing special, nothing unique, except maybe the fact he’s so fucked-up that he’s damaging his organs in a pathetic attempt to love himself. He’s so fucked-up that he can’t even think about his problems, or deal with him, can only drift above them, like he’s an observer instead of the perpetrator.

Stupid, delusional. And fat, and unlovable, and don’t forget fat.

((Shut the fuck up and drink your coffee. Nobody wants to hear your stupid rambling. Nobody gives a shit. You’re a cookie-cutter emo kid running himself into the ground. So shut up and do it quietly.))

He drinks his coffee. No matter how much sweetener he adds, it’s still bitter.

His turn is coming up. The crosswalk to the sidewalk to the library to the lecture halls behind the dorms. But something in him knows he needs to keep walking.

Past the ice cream parlor—his eyes don’t linger anymore. Past the drugstore—he bought some probiotics there a few weeks ago. Into McDonalds. He avoids the cashier’s stare and finds the corner table.

He looks around. Everyone here is middle-aged and fat, or old and fat, or a little kid skinny as love. If only he still had his childhood metabolism.

In his backpack is his notebook. He takes it out and pencils in: 1.5 hr. walking (It’ll be closer to two hours soon, but he rounds down) (120 lb 5’9’’) = 250 calories. That doesn’t sound quite right, but it seems reasonable enough.

It’s time to go. People are staring, wondering why a fat fuck like him isn’t ordering half the menu. Well, it’s not like they’re turning around in their chairs to ogle, but they’re looking. He can tell.

The grease in the air is thick enough to make him gag. He downs the last of his Americano, tosses the empty cup in the trash, and goes. The walk to the dorms is mostly uphill, and he’s glad. Pain trumps emotion every time.

[lightandmatter]

One of the things that I love most about being a photographer is traveling, but flying can be hard on camera equipment. Carrying camera bags on the plane is an option, but that option comes with its own problems: they’re heavy, big bags are not allowed, it restricts what else you can carry on, and if you board late on a full flight, you might be forced to check your bag through anyway. That’s why I bought a Pelican 1560 flight case five years ago.

When I was a teenager, Pelican products came with a guarantee label that covered them against breakage and leaks in all cases except shark bite, bear attack, and children under 5. I haven’t seen that label in years, but Pelican cases are still among the most trusted cases in the world for protecting expensive and fragile equipment. I’ve been using the Pelican 1560 rolling case (with foam insert) for the past four years, and here are some of the things that I love and hate about it.

Build Quality & Protection

This is why people buy Pelican cases: they’re strong, safe, and trustworthy. Anything that can stand up to being thrown around by airline baggage handlers (unlike the infamous Taylor Guitar) can handle just about anything, and my Pelican case has been survived numerous flights unscathed. Yes, I’ll find new scratches and the occasional gouge, but there are no cracks or dents, no broken handles or clasps. It’s still completely waterproof. And more importantly, I’ve had no broken camera equipment.

[/media-credit] My Pelican 1560 case floating in Lake Washington. I don’t make a habit of this, but I do carry my equipment in a smaller Pelican case when I need to wade through a river to get to a location.

Design

PROS: Pelican’s general design is simple but ingenious: it consists of a hard plastic outer shell with perforated foam interior. Small, individual cubes of the foam can be plucked out to customize spaces for equipment of just about any size or shape. This works wonderfully, as long as you don’t try to get too fancy (in which case complex shapes will start to fall apart with extended use). With foam hugging every inch of your equipment’s surface, it’s virtually impossible for it to get damaged during travel, though it is important to leave sufficient space between pieces of equipment to protect during hard impacts.

The roller handle can be locked into the up or down position.

Locked in the down position.

This case easily fits a couple of camera bodies, a few lenses, and flashes, and I could have been more economical with space. (I don’t normally pack Canon and Nikon gear together, but I was shooting with a Canon and wanted to fill the space).

This is a big case, and luckily has been designed with wheels and a roller-handle, both of which are made of the hard, durable plastic of the case’s shell. This makes airline travel much easier. I also like to collect stickers from the places I travel and stick them to the case, and I can’t do that with a soft, roller bag[1. I suppose that if I were really motivated I could collect patches and sew them to a fabric bag, but that would limit my options quite a bit, and I’d probably never get around to it. And it would probably affect the water resistance].

The two carrying handles both have a rubber grip which makes them much more comfortable to carry than the plain plastic grips on smaller cases. Good idea.

CONS: The 1560 has double-throw latches keeping it closed. While this makes the 1560s much easier to open than many of the smaller cases, it actually makes them a little too easy to open. The first time that I flew with my new case and checked it, it came off of the baggage retrieval conveyor belt with both clasps open and the case ajar. I hadn’t used a padlock. It was pure luck that nothing was missing or broken.

After that, I bought a package of brightly colored, heavy duty zip-ties, and I put one through each set of lock holes when I check it, and I’ve had no problems yet. TSA approved locks are generally not any harder to circumvent, and with zip ties, I’ll at least know as soon as I get the back that it’s been tampered with if there’s a problem.

The center portion of the latch lifts to more easily pop off the exterior latch.

The latch in its closed position.

Here, I’ve drilled holes into the ridges next to the buckle, probably killing my warranty but allowing me to pass a zip-tie through that will keep the buckle closed, and any tampering should be evident.

The hard-plastic wheels are a bit noisy on rough surfaces (parking lots, roads, etc), especially with the resonance of the hard case. I’d have preferred soft, rubber wheels, but they are at least sturdy and they work. It’s also pretty easy to replace these wheels with softer ones, if you prefer… it will just cost $12 or so.

[/media-credit] The hard wheels of Pelican cases can be noisy, but they’re easy to replace.

Size and Weight

Let’s get this out of the way: the Pelican 1560 is a heavy case. Even without your gear in it, it weighs 20 lbs, and loaded up it’s not unusual for mine to weigh almost 40 lbs. The case can hold two at least two full-size DSLR bodies, a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, another five smaller lenses, two flash units, and an assortment of other batteries, flash triggers, filters and small items.

The 1560 is technically too large to be a permissible carry-on for most American domestic airlines at about 22 x 18 x 10.5 (the Pelican 1510 and new 1535 are carry-on legal: 22 x 14 x 9 is typical carry-on size), but I’ve never had a problem rolling it through security in dozens of trips. At the Tampa airport, I was once asked to stuff it into the size-check box by an ambitious TSA man, and the fit was tight enough that it wouldn’t go all the way in, but apparently it was close enough and they let me by. That said, I never actually carry it on. My general scheme is to roll it with me to the gate to avoid paying the extra baggage fee, but my flight crew invariably offers complimentary carry-on check at the gate, which I accept.

And I do this because the Pelican 1560 case is bordering on heavy when empty, and dangerously heavy when full. If I accidentally let this case slip from an overhead bin and fall on someone’s head, I’d be facing a serious lawsuit. And who wants to deal with luggage that size in a cramped airplane, anyway? I bought this case so that I can check my gear and not worry about it.

[/media-credit] For size comparison, here is the Pelican 1560 next to my light grey Pelican 1520 case, which does not roll.

If you actually want to carry on a roller bag full of camera gear, I’d suggest going with something lighter and softer, like the ThinkTank or Tenba bags; I’ve had nothing but good experiences with both manufacturers.

Cost

Camera equipment is expensive, so it’s always a bit of a surprise to find anything that is high quality and relatively inexpensive. The Pelican 1560 is exactly that, at only about $165 or less (depending on color). Doesn’t sound so inexpensive to you? Consider the cost of fabric roller camera bags by Tenba($325), ThinkTank($250–390), and even Vanguard($190).  There are less well-known brand hard-cases that are cheaper, but they won’t save you much… the Seahorse brand still runs $136, and even the “Amazon Basics” brand costs $140. ThinkTank and SKB have recently joined up to make cases with padded dividers rather than foam, and while they are more efficient with space, I don’t believe they will protect your gear as well… and they’re not cheap. Padded dividers are also available for the Pelican 1560, though they cost about $100., or you can buy the 1564 case with dividers instead of foam for about $250.

Conclusion

If Pelican had come up with a latch design that would reliably stay closed during a day of air travel, this case would have received a truly excellent rating, since it is otherwise well designed, well built, and reasonably priced. As is, some photographers have taken to drilling a hole in the plastic ridges surrounding the buckles and lacing a zip-tie through them during flights to keep them from accidentally popping open, which is an even better solution than using zip-ties in the lock holes.

Still, I’d choose Pelican cases over any fabric roller bag to protect my gear on a flight any day, at least when checking the bag as luggage: I can hand the case over and not worry about it again during my trip, even if I know the planes will be loaded in monsoon rains, or if I have to walk several blocks in a storm to my hotel.

[infobox maintitle=”Overall Score: 8.1 out of 10″ subtitle=”Solid. Heavy. Secure… with a bit of help.” bg=”red” color=”white” opacity=”off” space=”30″ link=”no link”]

Comments? Questions?

Still have any questions about this case, or anything else relevant to this review? Let me know in the comments section below. I’ll answer as quickly as I can.

Review: Pelican 1560 Rolling Camera Case One of the things that I love most about being a photographer is traveling, but flying can be hard on camera equipment.