We'll see...

What do you get when you have a green wagon that was hit in the rear at 40 mph, and a new gold wagon with a perfect body but trashed transmission? Well, like the title says, we'll just have to wait and see. If this thing works out well, I'll give the repair place all the credit. They were the only ones who were willing to do this. The gold wagon has already limped over there. I'm driving the green one still (the one that was considered totaled). I'll give them the green one in the new year. I have high hopes as I need a working wagon for the studio. We'll see....

An Article from Studio Photography Magazine

The studio Bill Truran rented for this pizza
packaging shoot was in Fairfield, NJ. All the
equipment for the shoot arrived in his Taurus.
Thanks to the gurney and some strong straps, he
was able to bring it all into the studio in one trip.

Bill Truran, of Bill Truran Productions LLC (www.billtruran.com), owns a commercial photography studio in the New York City area. To keep overhead costs down, he closed his full-time studio and began to rent for each shoot. Only problem is, this caused logistics problems.

As Truran explains, "Adjusting to different studios is no problem, as long as we have our own gear. Problems begin when we have 10-16 cases of equipment on the sidewalk, a car to park, and no way for our assistant to get the equipment off the street and into the studio while I go park the car.

"Our solution was to retrofit a medical gurney like the ambulances use, replacing the tilting bed with a desk surface. Now we pack most of our cases onto the gurney, and strap them on. We push the gurney into the back of our company's Taurus station wagon, and the wheels collapse up and under it. Any additional cases get packed around the gurney.

"Once we arrive at the rental studio, we pull the gurney out and the wheels drop down and lock. We strap the additional cases on top of the others, and my assistant puts all the equipment on one rolling table ready to roll into the freight elevator. All I have to do is drive away, park the car, and walk back to the studio, entering through the front door. One photographer and one assistant is all it takes!"

Alice B. Miller Studio Photography Editorial Director

Ah, a week off...

Well, the last three weeks were spent shooting fashion & stills for a catalog.
That might sound fun or glamorous, but at my age, the constant running seems to wear me out. I never like time off from shooting, but I soooo look forward to having the last week of the year to recuperate. The great part of this kind of photography is that I get to play with some great people. Bouchelle is wonderful (she does hair & makeup). Sally, Astrid & Barbara took different days styling the clothes, and Dawn (one of my favorite directors) told me what to shoot. While the work may be hard, the whole time is fun because of good models and the great team. I think that by the first of the year, I'll be raring to go once again.

it's new to me...

This is a picture of my "alas" beloved green Taurus wagon. That's just what happens sometimes when you stop for a red light on a 40 mph road and the guy in the big pick-up behind you does not.
Anyway, I have a new (to me), 1996 Taurus wagon. This one is gold! It will fit my gurney perfectly (see 11/18/07) and is fancier than my beloved green one, but as is true with so many over 60K Taurus, the transmission is slipping.
I'm going to pick up a bottle of Lucas' Transmission Fix tomorrow and see if that can fix it. If it does, I'll shout out loud! If not, I'll whimper quietly. If it does not fix it, I have a guy (and his whole shop) who will trade the transmission from the green car to the gold car. As you can see, it was hit in the back. The front is fine. We'll see what happens. By the way, I'm teaching the man who owns auto repair place Photoshop®, so it won't cost me much to have it fixed anyway. Ain't life strange sometimes? When this car is finally up to snuff, I'll put up a picture of it on this blog. Then you'll know we're all set for more location work.