Today I marry my best friend: The Morgan's April 2017

Yesterday at Vagabond Photography, I had the privilege of being able to show a recent bride and her mother the photos from her and her husbands big day.  I never get over be able to watch the joy come over a husband and wife's face when being presented with they photos for the first time. In this case it was the bride and the mother but it was still fun none the less.

One of the things we enjoy covering at Vagabond Photography is military weddings and this young couple made for such an enjoyable day.

Nici and Jack we wish you both all the best in life.

Fair winds and following seas.

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference

Last week on May 4th we had the privilege to attend and cover the annual Clean Rivers, Clean Lakes Conference hosted by our friends at Sweetwater, held this year at the Florian Park Conference & Event Center in Germantown WI.
It was a great day filled with many great people who believe in cleaning up the water ways which we live around and use for recreation, along with other services. Even though we were there to take pictures and document the day for Sweetwater we still managed to learn about a fair amount. One on the things we managed to take away having come from an agriculture family was a form of over seeding on an already established corn crop to minimize runoff during heavy rains. It is something that we had never given much thought to but we can see where it defiantly has it advantages.
A big shout out goes to Linda Reid and her team for putting together another amazing Clean Rivers, Clean Lakes Conference. Also to Stephanie Cresci the event coordinator of Florian Park and their staff for providing such a wonderful place and great food.

Having some fun, taking time to smell the resin!

It seems to me that I am always on the go, from photographing weddings, events, portraits, to prepping sites that rested all winter under a blanket of snow and a myriad of home improvement projects that come with of having a home. Well this weekend we ditched all of that and headed South to Chicago for some FUN and don’t worry we didn’t leave any clients hanging.

Normally when I take some time away from photography as a job I normally don’t take my professional gear with me, I’ll take my point and shoot or just use my phone and try to be in the moment and kinda be a tourist. Though weekends like these are a little different, this past weekend marked our yearly trip with friends to C2E2.  For those of you not familiar with this it stands for Chicago Entertainment and Comic Expo. Think of it as the Midwest’s answer to San Diego’s Comic Con, except it’s better cause it’s close to home.

As hard as I try I cannot seem to leave the camera at home when I come to this event. The time and effort cosplayers put into their costumes is truly astounding and a camera phone or a point and shoot does not seem to do their attire justice. Q’s necklace was hand made and Tank Girls gun is not something you can buy off a shelf. Over the past few years one of my favorite piece was a green sparkling jewel made from a green beer bottle. Also with the advent of 3D printers being more readily available already amazing costumes are being taken to the next level.

So below are a few of my favorite cosplayers I encountered over my Saturday trip to C2E2.

Lume Cube Review

Back in December of 2016 I bought a set of Lume Cubes and I wanted to give them a good run though before writing a review for their product. For those of you not familiar with Lume Cube they are a small yet fiercely powerful light and can be used in a variety of settings and activities.

The light dimension is about a 1.5” cube to give you an idea of its size, it comes in blue, black and sliver/gray casings. Lume Cube has made some special give away cubes that were red and other colors but I have not seen those for sale (cause I would love a red one). The light color is around 6000K so it does have a light blue tint to it and it is extremely bright.

The light itself is really simple to use it has two push buttons on top one to operate the light. With the back of the light facing towards you the left button operates the light on its own. Once it is turned on you can tap the button repeatedly and increase the power of the light in 10% increments. the right button is activates the Bluetooth function of the light which allows it to pare with your phone or tablet.  From there you can modify the light in single percent increments.

The App for the Lume Cube has recently been up dated and for the most part is still the same. You can pair up to five Lume Cubes at one time and active them all with the touch of the screen. The one thing I like about the app is that it remembers the intensity percentage of the light when you turn it on and off the lights or the App. The one down side I did notice in the App is when you do modify the light brightness on the App the results are not immediately visible it does require you to turn the light on and off again with the little light power button on the app. The distance the light works with is the App is based on the power of its Bluetooth and your mobile device. I use a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet and Motorola X Pure phone and the distance from where it works to where it doesn’t is about 40 feet for my devices. So results may vary depending on your mobile device.

When the light is on full power it will last about 20 to 30 minutes depending on surrounding conditions. Lume Cube says on full power expect about a 22-minute run time. So what I have experienced is within stated running timeWith the light below 75% power one can expect anywhere between a 45 minute to an hour and a half run time. The light does tend to get a bit warm with time especially on full power, not by any means that this is a down side but it is something to be aware of.

The one thing I love about this little light is that it is water resistant/proof up to 100 feet. I live on a lake with a max depth of 40 feet and this winter while the ice was on the lake I did pare both lights up with my Contour Camera. They work quite well in low level light and a depth of around 35 feet.

As for charging there is a screw off cap on the back of the Lume Cube to access the charging port. The cap has a rubber O-ring on it so it keeps the water out when screwed on tight. It can be easily removed for charging with a quarter or a nickel. The charging port is a USB type C connection and it will charge the Lume Cube in about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half from being completely dead. Even if the Lume Cube is not being used for long periods of time the battery will still slowly drain, so the night before you use it to put it on the charger for a while just to make sure you are prepaired.

Some of the other uses I have found for Lume Cube is working on my vehicles because of their small size it has allowed me to get light into a small area where you can’t normally fit a normal flash light.  It also works well in flagging a passing by snowmobile with the pulse setting on the app when you are broken down on the side of the trail.

Lume Cube also offers a multitude of accessories for their lights. I am looking forward to getting the light house case and along with the honey comb pack and defuser bundle when they are released. By the looks and current online information, they will be held to the case by magnets so it will be interesting to see how they hold up with jarring and shaking. You can currently also get mounting accessories kits for the DJI Phantom series, Inspire series, also for the Yuneec Typhoon H and the Autel Robotics X-Star Drones.

The Lume Cube light is a small light that packs a big punch and is extremely versatile and it worth the $79.99 price tag. So if you are in the market for a small compact light it is worth the purchase and addition to your lighting arsenal.

Look, Listen and Live!

Look, Listen and Live

As a photographer, we are here to create lasting images that our clients will love forever. In today’s world though it seems we have forgotten about keeping them safe in some circumstances. I will be the first to admit I will go to almost any lengths to get the precious shot my clients want.
Though a recent horrific event for one photographer has been a reminder for most to stay away from active railroad lines. Per CNN on March 16 a young aspiring model was struck and died from passing by train (full story) in Texas. Occurrences such as this happen more than I would ever like to admit.  Tragic events like this seems to make the news at least once a year and it runs the same, a model or photographer were killed by a passing train while photographing on the tracks. Also, through online messages boards or magazine stories, close calls happen way more frequently than most people know about.

I grew up around railroad yards in Central Wisconsin and as a kid we played around the railroads which was a big no no. As I got older, I learned that our normal waitress at a place called the Little Pink Restaurant had lost her leg while playing around the trains as a teenager. Also, there were several incidents in the early 90’s where trucks would go through the railroad grade crossings and get taken out by a locomotive from the Green Bay and Western or the Chicago and Northwestern and later on the Wisconsin Central.

Having grown up around events like this has made me appreciate the fact that we as photographer should offer something different to our clients. Yes, it is easy to go to a set of steel rails polished by hundreds of trains a week or to a trestle with a scenic view where you don’t know the schedule of the intermittent trains but it’s not safe and it is a major risk we take. As big as those giant work horses of industry are, they are fairly quiet and can sneak up on you quickly. At first one hears a light humming in the distance and then the next before one knows it right there and you might be left without a place to run to, too get out of the way.

In 2016 according to Operation Lifesaver and the FRA, in Wisconsin, we had 46 vehicle vs train collisions resulting in two deaths and 15 injuries as reported. Which raked Wisconsin in the top 15 in the US, while this isn’t a lot but it is significant but it is down overall. Granted we were lucky and didn’t have any people vs trains due to trespassing in our state in 2016 in Illinois they had 22 person vs train related deaths due to trespassing on the rails. But here is some food for thought for photographers from 2015 to 2016 there was increase in trespassing on the rails by 14.5%, deaths were up by 12.8% and overall injuries by 16.4%. Also, the fines are not cheap fines according to Wisconsin statute 192.32 starts at $100 a person but can vary by county/municipality and go up from there. So, if it’s you, a model and assistant the fine can be as little as $300 in total fines. Also in some locations in Milwaukee and some other major cities you could end up in jail plus a fine.

For that photographer in Texas I feel so sorry for them because it something they have to live with and I hope like hell it never happens again to any photographer.
As events like these become more prevalent why don’t we as a community say, hey we’re not going to work in those locations anymore? Is it worth it?