Packs small, plays big.
How would you like to be able to shoot, edit, and BACKUP your GoPro or drone videos with only a pocketful of tech?
Take a look at this set-up:

I take a real world imaging problem, and try to find the right tech solutions.
In this case, it’s a matter of walking around in NYC, with a messenger bag containing some GoPro video gear, and being able to sit anywhere, like a bench, and editing, saving and backing up the raw files.

The goal was to keep it as small and lightweight as possible.

And whether you’re going to the skate park, or a mountain hike, compact gear is a huge advantage.

One of the issues, was the amount of space on the iPhone, after all of my apps and content already on there. And unless you subscribe to a music service, you need your tunes on the device.

With microSD cards being 32-64gb in the sweet spot, especially with higher quality capture modes, space is critical.

Finally a full workflow solution!

With an iPhone, the new Lexar lighting connector microSD reader, and the C20i 3-in-1 flash drive, I get a direct media card into my phone, AND a lighting connector flash drive to back it all up.

C’mon, you’ve gone through the painfully slow upload to your site/cloud/transfer with wi-fi.
Sure, it can happen, but it is so much faster with a file transfer to flash drive.
The app you use (free download) can also send your card files to dropbox, but I like a hard copy in my hands.

So it goes like this:
•Make sure you have enough storage space on your iPhone for your intended content.
(If not, back some of it up on the C20i flash drive – go for at least the 64GB)
•Shoot your content on a microSD card with GoPro, drone, or whatever using a microSD card.
•Load it into your iPhone, using the Lexar MicroSD card reader with Lighting connector
•Edit in your favorite editing app.
•Offload a copy to the flash drive, and depending on your wi-fi signal strength. upload to social media and/or Dropbox.

All with tech that fits in your pocket!

And when you get back to home base, plug the USB 3.0 end of the flash drive into your back-up system on your computer, hopefully RAID, and empty the contents of the flash drive . If you want to go old school, you can load the MicroSD card into your computer via the other Lexar card reader, with USB. It’s a full set you should consider

Here are all 3 Lexar units:

This first part was primarily about using these items in a walk around or lightweight situation.

Now, of course, the 2 Lexar pieces can be used for a ton other things: keep music/movies/photos (your portfolio?) on separate micro Sd cards. I can’t always get wi-fi where I shoot. Having my music on MicroSD cards insures I always have my tunes.
I have been to concerts where I’m shooting the whole thing with my iPhone and Olloclips lenses (Iggy Pop and Nick Cave when I didn’t get credentialed, and quickly run out of space. That’s when the flash drive to carry your extra media comes in handy. Or if I have to look at videos emailed to me on my phone.
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If you are going to be doing a lot of shooting, we’ll need to talk about some power solutions.

We all know that you need a handful of batteries for a good day of shooting with a GoPro.

Here are 2 solutions:

Digipower is a company that has made a series of batteries that plug into the back of a Hero 3+, and Hero 4, giving up to 12 hours of shooting, aptly called ReFuel. By adding this unit on the back of the GoPro, you’ve got a solid block of shooting.

The other smallish option is a battery filled, Quikpod, 7inches to the GoPro connector. If you use a GoPro, there is a good chance you have a 1/4-20 standard tripod adaptor, which can also be added to use the Quikpod for other cameras, lights or Lume Cube. It has a rubber-covered USB output, and a 4 light, power consumption scale. It has 5200mAh, so you can also use it to power anything else.

For the phone, I’m still a fan of the PNY battery for it has a visual percentage readout of the available juice, 2 USB plugs, and has just been working for 2 years, with no issues.

The new ones, have 3 USB plugs. Only about $18!

After looking at a bunch of cases, if that’s what you like, for the GoPro plus batteries, accessories, and everything you saw above, I’m a fan of the Fotodiox line. Deep enough, pre-cut dense foam, a flap to separate came/batts, from other items, a net pouch for tools.
And check out the Fotodiox set of GoPro tools. You need them, and these are great. They come in colors so you can tell whats what pretty fast in a case.

Yep, only discussed the Micro SD solutions here. We do know that there are Lightning SD card readers by Apple available.
Perhaps you want to have a larger screen to edit, like an iPad.
Sure, all of that is true.
I like to travel light. Sometimes, isn’t that the best way?

Photographers/videographers: Bags and Cases can be the most important part of your kit.
Getting the gear to and from a gig, safely, is key.
And traveling by plane can be the most crazy, as you try to get the window or early boarding surcharge so you get an overhead compartment for your carry on, main gear. (We’ll get into the checked gear in a second)
The standard for many has been the Pelican 1510, which meets the airline standards. A bit heavy, honestly, but protected.
I started to use a Pelican case when flying, after having my roller bag being taken from me, and hand checked. I could have waited for 12 hours for another flight, or trust they would take care of the bag. I moved camera bodies and some glass into a backpack I stashed under seat. They did hand check it, but it was a very uncomfortable flight.

So now I use Pelican 1510, with TrekPak dividers, when flying, and transfer needed gear to a ThinkTank BackPack when I hit location, which I pack in my luggage.

OK, the folks at Pelican have now come up with a series of lighter, just as strong, cases. The carry-on is 28% lighter! Pelican Air should be shipping as of May, 1st, 2016

What would you do with this bonus? Add more gear, or just make your load lighter?
Just get ready to lose some weight, and I think a lot of us will be happy for that!

there is one last test: Can you stand on it to get a better shooting vantage point, as many photos do now? We’ll see, once they come out!

and now, the official word: Continue Reading »

OK, all of you lucky folks in LA, do NOT miss this crazy good exhibit at Morrison Hotel Gallery! At the end of this post, we have included a video interview we did with Brad Elterman, one of the featured photographers
The Ramones, 1978 ©Brad Elterman

The Ramones Work My Camera
1978: The Ramones were staying at the Sunset Marquis, just down the street from the intersection of Sunset Blvd and Alta Loma. The band was wonderful to photograph and they really knew how to work the camera. They would all line up and strike their pose like they had already done it a thousand times before. It was so cute to watch. I am sure they were taught how to do the dog for the camera by their brilliant manager, Danny Fields, also a talented photographer. Both the Sunset Marquis and The Whiskey are still around. You can go for a visit and stand in the exact spot where Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy once stood. I should conduct tours of these landmarks.

Forty years ago, a mighty band from Forest Hills, Queens released a debut album, brandishing buzz saw guitars and demented bubblegum pop sing-alongs that changed the face of popular culture. Virtually overnight the Ramones wiped rock music clean of pomp and bloat, and invented a new genre – Punk Rock. From April 30th to May 6th, Morrison Hotel Gallery at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood salutes this feat with an unprecedented exhibit featuring fine art photography legends that also happened to have had a ringside seat while these iconoclasts changed music forever. Guitarist Johnny Ramones’s widow, Linda Ramone, will curate the exhibit.

“The Ramones set the tone for what punk rock was supposed to sound like,” says MHG partner Timothy White. “We wanted to create a comprehensive exhibit that includes never seen before images. Consequently, we have included photographers other than those that Morrison Hotel Gallery represent – such as the great Bob Gruen and Mick Rock. I’m very excited about this exhibit, and about working with Linda Ramone, and all the great photographers involved.”

To properly commemorate this milestone anniversary of 40 years since The Ramones released its debut, Morrison Hotel Gallery reached out to anyone and everyone who has ever photographed the band. Through exhaustive research and planning, the Gallery was able to track down iconic, rare, and previously unseen images of the group. Timothy White, who grew up in the fertile creative scene of CBGBs, was also able to earn the support and involvement of Johnny Ramone’s widow, Linda Ramone, to ensure the exhibit experience was immersive and felt authentic. One poetic tie-in is a well-loved photo of the group on the corner of Sunset and Alta Loma right where the Sunset Marquis is located.

This exhibit brings The Ramones’ mondo bizarro back to life with some of photography’s finest practitioners who happened to know the band intimately and be there for its seismic reign. Showing their Ramones catalog with be such venerated names as Bob Gruen, Brad Elterman, Chuck Krall, Danny Fields, Elaine Mayes, Ebet Roberts, Denis O’Regan, David Arnoff, Karen Mason- Blair, Norman Seeff, Lawrence Watson, Lynn Goldsmith, Mick Rock, Stephanie Chernikowski, and Merri Cyr. Throughout the hotel will be larger than life images of the group, and during the hours of the opening there will be a virtual Ramones concert in the courtyard sound-tracking exhibit.

In 1976, The Ramones dropped its self-titled debut on an unsuspecting culture. Twenty-two years, 14 studio albums, and 2,263 shows later, the quartet’s impact is indelible. Rolling Stone and VH1 have included their “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” lists. SPIN ranked them the second-greatest band of all time, behind the Beatles. The Ramones are in immortalized in the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame, and they’ve been awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They’re currently being honored at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows with an exhibit, that will be up through July 2016. By 2014, sadly, all four founding members had died.

The Ramone’s music was gloriously no frills-their pop savant song-craft was front and center with nary a guitar solo or instrumental break to detract from the group’s explosive simplicity. The band’s image perfectly matched its music-ripped jeans, canvas sneakers, mop top haircuts, and leather jackets made for an unforgettable visage that epitomized rock n’ roll without pretense.

About Morrison Hotel® Gallery
Morrison Hotel® Gallery (MHG) was founded in 2001 by former record company executive Peter Blachley, music retail industry professional Richard Horowitz, and legendary music photographer Henry Diltz. In 2012, author, director and photographer Timothy White joined the team, launching an additional West Coast gallery at The Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood.

MHG is the world’s leading brand in fine art music photography representing over 100 of the world’s finest music photographers and their archives. Their vast catalog of photography encompasses jazz, blues, and rock imagery spanning several generations through to today’s contemporary music artists and now includes iconic photographs in the world of sports as well. MHG has a robust online presence, featuring over 100,000 images searchable by photographer, music artist, band or concert. www.morrisonhotelgallery.com

Morrison Hotel Gallery
116 Prince Street || New York, NY 10012
212.941.8770

Morrison Hotel Gallery
Sunset Marquis
1200 Alta Loma Road || West Hollywood, CA 90069
310.881.6025

And the video, from a few years back:

Waiting is the worst.
Waiting for your media card to read/write after shooting off a burst of shots, or waiting for your media card to load into your computer after, so you can edit.
We have 2 main issues with waiting:
1: the frustration about losing a shot because your card was still writing your previous shots;
2: after returning to your computer, waiting for the images to load, so you can edit, and post process, and share.
After shooting an assignment a few weeks ago that happened at night, the client wanted to get a selection fast for social media, so that meant that night. A late one.
Now with a Lexar Hub, you can load all of the cards to a single file on a hard drive, but it is a bit laborious. At this time, Lightroom, my main asset management program, won’t let you load in multiple cards concurrently, only consecutively.
There had to be another solution.
Based on conversation with some fashion week shooters, I had tried software called PhotoMechanic a few years back. Primarily spoken about as an editing solution at the time, but I felt it was just another step.

Nikon D810, 70-2000mm 2.8 lens, Lexar 32GB 2000x SD card

SXSW is one of the best overall festivals of the year, and with the amount of events happening there, it’s the perfect place to do real world testing of photo gear, and try a new workflow.
You are shooting Music in large and small venues, Keynote Speakers, Street Scenes, so a large variety of shooting situations, compressed into one event. Heck, I’ve been been hired to shoot a book signing, BBQ event inside a local meeting hall
Long, long days, and awesome. It’s a 10 day affair so you get to know gear/software results pretty fast. I’ve been shooting there for 8 years, and kinda knew the run of the show, so a great place to try something new.

OK, let’s get to it.

The cameras are: Nikon D810, for primary shooting of music and speakers, Fuji Xt-1 for more discreet shooting with a compliment of lenses, and Fuji 100T for walk around (best street shooting camera, but that’s another review)

First the read/write buffering issue:
The media cards I use are Lexar, CF & SD, super fast read write, and reliable as hell. I always carry the cards in a ThinkTank Pixel Pocket Rocket for security and ease of operation. Clip it to a belt loop, and put the wallet in your pocket for easy access. With speeds of 2000X, the waiting issue with media cards is solved

There are a few key elements to the sped up workflow:

First of all is the Lexar Hub 2: this is a media card reading tower, that has modules you can switch out depending on your card situation (CF, SD, MicroSD, XQD, and even a hard drive to back up things, right in the tower. I had 1-64GBSD cards, 2-32GB SD card, and 1-64GB CF card, and this has room for 4 modules.
The key on this is the Thunderbolt connection to the computer, in this case a MacBook Air. That connection is another step in the speed process.

Honestly, there is a bit of bulk on this unit, as the Thunderbolt requires a good sized power source. Worth it.

Then comes the magic software thing it all together: PhotoMechanic.The main elements on this program are the ability to ingest multiple cards or hard drive concurrently. Not consecutively. Huge time savings to start.
The speed with which it ingests the files is incredible, and 4 cards all loaded in about 15min!
I was ready to edit!

In the picture: Left to right: Olloclip Studio modules with Olloclip lenses (always in my bag) Apple watch charging cable, Lexar Hub 2, 4 Input USB 3.0 (bus powered), 1TB hard drive, MacBook Air, ToughTech Duo RAID drive, business cards, LensPen, and you can barely see the earplug case, but if you shoot music, a good idea when you are shooting at the stage. And yes, MOO business cards. People still use them.

When you ingest the files, I always recco a RAID and a separate hard drive, so 3 back-ups to start.
This program gives to all of those choices to select your target drive. Plus, you can rename all of your files as the come in, and add a sequence start so on a long gig, you are clear and things are in order.
In the edit process, you can go to a single large image, and the speed with which you can fly though them, without waiting on a load-up will astonish you.
I know, LightRoom can do these things, but not with the speed, and that was the point of this whole workflow upheaval.
I went with a star system, and just gave the heroes 5 stars. You also can a color code.
Now that have done your initial super fast edit (you can go back and fine tune later), select the edits and drag to Lightroom OR you can set it up in PhotoMechanic to export directly.
I still am hooked on Lightroom for my post-processing, so I send the select folder there. And all of the select markings are intact. 5 Stars in PhotoMechanic shows as 5 Stars in LightRoom.
Here is a great overview on the editing system using Lightroom, by Matt Kloskowski, and may help you see if this is for you:

It’s about the speed.
I would say that every night I gained about 1.5-2 hours of extra time=sleep.
Coming into the hotel at 2-2:30 AM, then up again at 8:00 AM , you need all you can.
And if you shot right, your initial post processing should be fast.
I know that I’m a bit late to this party: fashion week shooters, wedding photogs all use this system, and as the rest of us music/event photos gathered in front of various stages, the discussion went to workflow and sleep. Some of the photographers were already there. As a noob, I was singing its praises.

Here are some of the workflow screen shots from the company:

All I can say is, if you shoot a lot, the Lexar Hub2 is a must have. Make sure you have the fastest cards that your camera can handle. And if you need the edit speed (who doesn’t?), Check out PhotoMechanic. If you are a member of a few of the photographer organizations, there is a discount on the software. Lots of youtube tutorials, so you can see if it’s for you.
There is a 30 day trial, which is what I did, and near the end, if you are satisfied, you can purchase, and not lose any of your work or presets.

And how did all of it get powered?

Here was the “charging station: Using a Watson Dual Charger, with a variety of plates for each camera I had. Just put labels on each plate. And there you also see a Re-Fuel go-pro handle (so much easier than changing batteries on the run, and one of their battery blocks for the phone. And a Photive AC powered USB 3.0 charging hub. There is a Ventev charging cable (1 of 3, I always carry) and, yes, a Jawbone bluetooth speaker, because music is my girlfriend.
All charging items, and cables are stashed in Muji mesh bags so I can see what the heck I have. Now the Fuji’s burn through batteries so have a handful always. Nikon D810 is a much better on battery life, but there are times that discreet and silent will get the shot.

Some images from the event:
Nikon D810, 70-200MM 2.8
Fuji XT-1, 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8
Nikon D810, 70-200MM, 2.8
Fuji 100T, 23mm, 2.0
Fuji 100T, 23mm, 2.0
Fuji XT-1, 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8
Nikon D810, 70-200MM, 2.8

You know that Olloclip lenses for the iPhone, have been in my bag since they first came out.

Having well made, actual glass lenses that perfectly attach to my phone, and have a sweet range of focal lengths, is a kind of a photographic security blanket for me, while shooting with my iPhone.
Telephoto, wide angel, fisheye, macro, the whole deal, in a compact package.

And now Olloclip will be featured this Friday, February 26th at 10:00 p.m. on the new HISTORY CHANNEL program titled “MILLION DOLLAR GENIUS”, produced for A&E Television Networks, LLC. And we wanted to give you a heads up before the show aired.

The new Million Dollar Genius program started airing last week on the History Channel, and it will run through May. Each half hour segment will feature amazing stories behind some of the world’s best inventions. There will be interviews with inventors describing their idea and process, including their “eureka moments” the engineering and design process, sales and marketing, and finally their “revelations of success.” Here’s the link to the show website.

includes interviews with Patrick (Founder and CDO), Steve (CEO), Chong (Design Director) and Sophie O’Neill (Patrick’s daughter and Marketing Intern).
And if you can’t catch it tonight, use the link to watch at your convenience.
I will.