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Hi guys, it’s been again a long time since I have blogged my latest post here. A combination of work, important projects and family life (3 kids now, and 2 of them at home for 2 months during holidays in July/August) made me virtually unavailable for anything else. I already can’t wait for our first holidays in more than 3 years, by the end of this year, back to Europe !
Anyway, during that time, I have done many different things, and among them, I have upgraded my lighting equipment with an amazing item: the Icelight. When I first heard about the Icelight early 2012, it was through my friend Jerry Ghionis when he was still testing it. Jerry is recognized as one of the best wedding photographers in the world, and he had the brilliant idea to design a continuous lighting that is really transportable and delivers a great light quality. I won’t describe the product here, there are lots of resources on that on the net – http://www.theicelight.com – but I simply would like to stress out that this product is amazing *.
So I have ordered 2 Icelights a couple of weeks ago and I got them last Saturday (17 Aug 13). They are not really cheap (US$500 each) but it costs less than a good speed light and for a far better quality of light. It’s as Jerry says: “it’s like carrying window light everywhere you go”. The product is manufactured by Wescott, a famous lighting equipment company, and is of great quality. The box itself looks like the one of an Apple product, and really you feel quality, reliability, solidness when you have the Icelight in hand. Everything looks perfect, and it is, but of course, there are a few cons: like the battery for instance, which lasts only 1 hour at full power (that being said, it’s quite rare that you need full power all the time, and between 2 shots, you can just switch it off …), or the maximum power, which doesn’t enable you to use it in bright outdoor conditions (the Icelight is clearly designed for indoor, studio or night shoots).
As every photographer, I am photo equipment geek … and as soon as I receive a new piece of equipment, I want to test and try it. In less than a week, I have already shot 2 photo sessions with my Icelights: one for a wedding and one that I have offered to a couple who wanted to do something very special (recreate the Wong Kar Wai movie “In the mood for love” mood and atmosphere in the streets of Port-Louis, Mauritius. Here are then some images taken during those 2 photo sessions … and really looking forward to the next sessions with them !
1. “In the mood for love” theme images:
2. Images of Meelin and Oliver wedding – first time I ever used the Icelights:
3. The Icelight with its box:
* Note: I am not a distributor or reseller of this product in Mauritius or anywhere in the world – Jerry, if you read this, maybe we could do business together here 😉 lol. I am not earning any commissions or royalties by writing this blog post. I am just writing it because I love the product and I think it deserves to be better known.
The Maiden Cup race is an important cultural moment in Mauritius, horse-riding being one of the favorite sport of Mauritians who are great gamblers. The race takes place every start of September, on a Sunday (while normally racings days are on Saturdays), and gathers thousands of Mauritians at Le Champs de Mars in Port-Louis (around 70,000 each year), the oldest horse-race track of the Southern hemisphere. Every Mauritian families have memories of this race, as it is a good family time for a picnic, admiring the horses or betting on “long shots” (horses with an interesting quote e.g. 16/1).
When the race has started, you can hear the crowd clamor, supporting their favorite horse until the end. The voices of Jug Gokhooi and Robert Deschambeaux, the 2 commentators, are on radios ad national TV, inviting all people to stop what they were doing and watch the race. At Le Champs de Mars, you can bet on horses, have a lunch, play different games, watch several animations … The whole country is either there or in front of their TV set.
This year, the race took place on Sunday 5 September. The weather was very good, le Champs de Mars was crowded, the track excellent. Favorite horses were Senor Versace and Captain’s Knock, the latter won the the Maiden Cup. For the first time, I went to the loges, to be able to get the best images of this special event. The atmosphere was great, electric – I saw the owners of horses at the paddocks, women with beautiful hats and men in perfect suits. I was also in the crowd, vibrating with them, shouting at my favorite horse … A real good experience that I would like to share with you with the following images, part of an important reportage I did for the occasion !
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