An example of cheap off-camera flash, as I described this morning in a forum post elsewhere:

Very simple and inexpensive wireless flash setup that works:

Take any two cheap flashes. I use a Pentax AF-280T and a Vivitar 283HV, but the brands are not very important. What you need is  one flash that has an old-fashioned “auto” setting and a way to be controlled by an optical slave, such as a Wein Peanut (about $15). It’s nice if the second flash has tilt/swivel, but not vital.

Set the slaved Vivitar to auto 5.6 (or whatever f/stop works for your photo). Place it wherever you want it to illuminate your scene. Put the 280T on the camera hotshoe. Swivel the 280T so it’s facing away from the subject, if you don’t want its light involved in the photo. (You can also simply use an index card and tape to reduce its power, or a manual setting if it has one.)

Set the camera to 1/180 and 5.6 (or f/stop of your choice, above).

Test.

Fire away.

The old auto flashes are very nearly as accurate in their exposure as TTL of any flavor. And they are much cheaper. You can get 283s for $50 or less.

Been using this for years. It’s very nearly as good as the wireless Canon system I also have, and hundreds of dollars cheaper.

One of the great advantages of film over digital is subtle. With digital, you never have two more frames to shoot at the end of a roll after you’ve finished your project. So with digital, you just quit shooting. With film, you’re forced to shoot two more. Or one more. Almost no one ever just yanks the film out of the camera early.

So, in that way, film encourages more experimentation than digital, which simply allows it, but doesn’t insist.

photo: Me, in the driveway, 2010

photo: Signed Rolf Pollen, 1937

I bought this at a book store in Ashland today; it’s a hand-colored black and white print, shot on a large format camera, and measures about 15 by 16 inches.

Can’t find any reference on the web to the photographer; it’s signed “Rolf Pollen, 1937.”

Gorgeous, odd photo, slightly reminiscent of a Diane Arbus shot.

photo: Ponderosa Pine, Harney County, 2009

I was visiting the set of Eugene Ballet’s “Peter Pan” today when I found myself swept up in the flying.

photo: Courtesy Brian Davies