Out of the Omo Valley
/Two days ago, I arrived in Addis Ababa after spending two weeks in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. Talk about being out there….man we are a long way from nowhere. I went to photograph one very special tribe, known as the Suri. Unfortunately, the weather gods kept us from their location as well as another tribe. Between flooded rivers, crossing rivers at night in dug out canoes, to some serious stuck trucks, mother nature cheated me on this one. Based on what I saw, I am already making planes to return to take another stab at this. I’m now in South Africa and I’ll write more in a few days after I get all rested up.
For the shot below, I used a Nikon D810 and a Profoto B1 with a 4 foot octo modifier. I selected the D810 for it’s ability to de-link the foreground from the background when making EV corrections, something that I knew would be critical for this expedition. I selected the Profoto B1 for it’s totally portable solution and 500 watt seconds of power. I knew I would need a powerhouse to deal with the sun however, I was also limited by weight restrictions. The B1 gave me what I needed. Using the new Profoto Nikon TTL air controller, I found myself jumping in and out of TTL often favoring full manual. Having said this, I really love the TTL controller and it really performed well in some difficult conditions.
I am very thankful that I have spent a great deal of time in the studio with all of my model friends. No doubt, this training made me a much better photographer when it came to working with big flashes on location.
So here is the first image from the trip, a male warrior from the Cara Tribe.
Nikon D801, 70-200mm f/2.8 @86, ISO 100, 1/80 sec at f/2.8, Profoto B1 Flash with Octo light modifier.