More Cheapness!

The small, portable Manfrotto (Bogen) light stands are very light. I guess that's why they are so portable! The down side is that they are easy to tip over, especially if there is an umbrella attached. Trish came to my rescue once again by sewing together some small "sandbags". These can easily go around the base of the light stand.

I can also hang them from the bottom of my tripod.



She started with cheap material from the the remenants section of the local fabric store. For $3.00, she bought more than enough material for 4 bags. The material she got seems to be quite durable and should stand up to years of abuse. I didn't care about the colour. In fact, I wanted the most garish fabric she could get, to make the bags more visible.

She cut a doubled over piece of fabric, then simple sewed two "pouches". She filled two ziploc bags with rice, so as to be able to guage how big to make each pouch.

She then sewed velcro into the mouth of each pouch. This means I can carry the "sandbags" without carrying a lot of weight. When I need to weight down my light stand or my tripod, I then add what ever is handy to get the weight. I carry a couple of ziploc bags and fill them with rice, stones, peas, whatever. I can even forgo the ziploc bags and put in a couple of water bottles or cans.









She left a couple of inches between the pouches so I could put in a couple of grommets in the fabric. This allows me to use a couple of hooks if need be (or hang the bag from my tripod hook).




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Too Cool Snoot for Vivitar 285HV

Trish discovered this inexpensive way to snoot my Vivitar 285HV's. Its a CaseLogic utility holder that she cut the bottom seam out of. There was a hook that annoyed me, so she cut that off as well. The hook was at the top and is used for hanging the holder onto the car's air vents. I couldn't see any practical use for it in this application, so it was gonzo.

The caseholder is made out of neoprene, so it easily slides over the 285HV's big head. There is a plastic ring on the top that is convenient for holding the 'mouth' of the snoot open in a consistent manner. It's pretty cheap, too, costing only $7 at Canadian Tire. Wal-Mart has them for a couple of bucks more.





Here is a shot of the 285HV on "tele" without the snoot:




Here is a shot with the same setup only with the snoot.




I really like the fact that the shape of the light area is the same all the time, because of the plastic ring on the front.

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Fall Colours

The leaves are almost all gone, but I still have a few more things to try out. Here is another montage of some fall colours. I'm going to try and print these out individually and then montage them in mats and frames.

Fall Colours
Originally uploaded by novascotiaskier.
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Hallowe'en Peeps

Halowe'en Peeps
Originally uploaded by novascotiaskier.

Trish and I went to The Valley this week-end to get some more fall colour shots. Kentville runs a "pumpkin people" contest as part of their Harvest Festival. Scattered areound town are a bunch of "people" made up using pumpkins for heads. This years theme is "country fair". For more shots of the pumpkin peeps, they're at the end of this slide show.

Besides the pumpkin people, the fall colours were gorgeous. I'll be working on finishing up the leaf shots shortly. A couple of points worth noting. On the way up we stopped at Grand Pre Vineyards for our first NS wine tasting. I was pretty impressed with the whites. I didn't try the reds, but will do so the next time around. On the way back we stopped in at the Blomidon Inn for a bite to eat. The food was fab and we highly recommend this spot if you are ever in the valley.

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