One of the most frustrating aspects of starting any business (and especially a photography business) is acquiring all the necessary tools. It’s difficult to decide what tools are required based on the services you’ve decided to offer. And if you’re brilliant enough to wrap your head around that, you need to prioritize acquiring these items. In my case, cash is my only option. All of my income from photography goes right back into the business. That’s nice from an accounting perspective and it sure keeps me out of trouble with my wife. But it’s frustrating when I need something or if something breaks prematurely. One of the items that I have been wanting is a new tripod. The one I have works well enough, it’s light, and has sentimental value (my wife bought it for me as a wedding gift). But I need something a little sturdier. A while back I priced out what I would buy if I could afford it and if I recall correctly I was looking to spend at least $300. And on top of that (literally), I would need to buy a head which would be about another $100. Based on that price tag and my limited funds, I chose to stick with my current tripod. That $400 could get used in more productive ways.
Yesterday I took the day off of work to help some friends out. They are a husband and wife team running a design firm in LA and are moving their business from a designated office space back to their home. I was assisting them with the IT infrastructure. It’s a long story, but essentially they needed help migrating from a physical office to a virtual office, from a technology perspective. So I was there finishing up that transition. Towards the end of the day the husband half of their team walks over to me with a tripod that was gray from dust. He says it’s just been sitting in the corner for the last two years and asked me if I wanted it. I was almost speechless! Seriously?! YEAH! I don’t remember what exactly I said but I’m sure I said something lame and embarrassed myself in some way. The only problem was that it was missing a quick release plate (the piece that attaches to the camera). So yesterday when I got home, I cleaned it up. And today I want to Samy’s in Pasadena and bought a quick release plate for $15. Voila! My new $15 tripod!!! As you can see, it cleaned up nicely. Thanks again Tom!
And if anyone is curious, I lit this with my two new LP120′s. On the right I had one at 1/2 power through a white umbrella triggered via pocketwizard. On the left, high and aimed down at 1/8 power was another one sporting a blue gel and triggered optically. I love them!
