Trying Out My New Photek Softlighter II

I've had my eye on the Photek Softlighter II Umbrella Softbox for quite awhile and decided to bite the bullet and get it. It's like a poor man's OctaBox that produces a very nice soft light for cheap.

It's a simple design of an umbrella with a diffuser panel on the front. I used it with a Canon Speedlite to photograph these products below. It was a simple one light setup that produced nice soft highlights and shadows.

I'm anxious to use it in a portrait session scheduled for next week.

St. Louis Gateway Arch

If you read my blog, you've probably come to the conclusion that St. Louis is one of my favorite cities. It has a lot of character, architecture and interesting neighborhoods. I'm also in love with the Gateway Arch. 

The tallest man-made monument in the United States towers at 630 feet. It's a simple but elegant shape (a weighted catenary curve) covered in stainless steel that constantly changes as you move around it. I never get tired of looking at and photographing it. It's just such a massive and unusual structure. I enjoy getting up close and using a wide angle lens to distort and create exaggerated shapes such as this one. The Gateway Arch is truly one of our greatest national monuments.

Vi The Salvage Art Queen

Vi has been showing up a bit here.  She's such an interesting person, and I really appreciate the effort that she puts into her themed outfits when hits the Madison event scene.   I kind of feel like a one man paparasi following her around town to photograph her different looks.   Here she was at Hatch Art Gallery on Willy St for the twice a year Madison Museum of Contemporary Art's Madison Gallery Night as The Salvage Art Queen.  Most of the items she did fine or are from resale shops and she has quite the collection of accessories to compliment her outfit.   Being a living work of art herself, her presence at the Hatch Art Gallery was a nice addition to the intimate art on display.  I'm sure I'll be posting more images of Vi in the future.