The Quadra is one of those items I consider essential (despite trying to toast one of my models yesterday) and as such I had it in my hand luggage. Well it turns out Dubai airport security (possibly hearing of yesterday’s escapades) really weren’t happy with that idea. I’d already been through security once but the second set insisted no Quadra in hand luggage (despite the label on it which says it’s fine) Damn. I had already checked in my hold baggage and technically left Dubai (passport stamped out etc).

So what happens then? Well that’s where it starts to get fun, and goes to show why you should arrive at the airport early. I got escorted back through security, however I couldn’t pass the passport people again with my passport. I’d been stamped as having left the country and as such if I tried to leave again they’d arrest me for entering illegally. Drat.

I ended up having to leave my passport with one of the immigration guys (a very scary thing to do) and be escorted back to check-in. There they continued to insist that I really had to check the battery and as such decided to reclaim my already checked bag. This is where I started to sweat. The only other time I’ve tried to reclaim a bag before flying it resulted in an awful headache of me trying to understand a Frenchman, jumping into a security restricted zone and ultimately almost losing the bag. I got escorted down again almost airside until being stopped at a barrier. “Wait here, it’ll only be 5 minutes,” reassured a security guy as he went to rummage for my bag, “Just give me your boarding pass.”

Okay so 30 minutes later I’m sitting in the bowels of the airport on my own. I’ve lost my passport to upstairs and now somebody has taken my boarding pass. I have no clue where anybody is and technically I’m not actually even meant to be in the country anymore. Hum. Another 10 minutes pass and yes I’ll admit I’m starting to get a little nervous. But finally, voila my bag appears. In goes the Quadra and back though security I get escorted. Luckily I managed to pick up my passport again (just hoping Mosad didn’t manage to clone it) and off I went through a few more sets of security.

After all that I was a touch dehydrated (yeah okay I admit it, I might have been sweating a little at the point they took my passport off me) so I went to Costa. Guess what? Seconds later I get the boarding call for my flight (which requires yet another set of security) and there they remove my nice, cold, airport bought beverage from me

Flying sucks! Well actually I’m lying, I love it really, here’s a few quick snaps a-la-iPhone of my journey. Really amazing what that thing can do. Recognise the view from the plane? It’s actually Iraq and Baghdad. Better hope those engines keep on running and the elections go well!

More adventures soon,
Alex

Story and more photos after the jump…

I decided to take her to the cafeteria I’ve been eating in all week. We got a few strange looks but I asked Alessia to get up onto a table and have some fun. Low and behold she did it and we got some amazing shots. I love the lines on this one and all the empty trays in the background.
For all you closet strobists out there lighting is from a Quadra into a Deep octa high above, an SB900 into a golden reflector down low as a bit of a floor kick, a gridded SB900 into the eyes to pop them and another SB900 on a table behind for the backlight. Quite a lot of strobes but overall I think they worked out well.

This is where it all got a bit ‘fun’. The cover was shot just to the side of the road with Alessia standing on one of the bollards. Boy did we get some looks from cars driving by! I used a 10 stop ND in order to darken the ambient mid day light and then stretched the shutter in order to blur the moving cars. Alessia was great holding still between pops of the flashes and pulling some great shapes.

Here’s one of the gang helping with the shot…

Lighting was from a bare Quadra held high camera right by Fadi, an SB skipped off a gold reflector held by Jonnie and another heavily gridded SB expertly aimed into her eyes by Dominic. Phew, keeping it easy then!

Then disaster struck. At the time Fadi (on the right) was standing a little closer to Alessia. I popped the flash and all seemed well. Then suddenly from nowhere smoke started billowing out of the Quadra head. This was followed by a few little flames and Fadi quickly handing the flash back to me! Thanks Fadi, what on earth am I meant to do with a flash which is burning? Crap. I quickly unplugged the thing and gave it a lung full of air. That seemed to stop the problem but we were still left with one very much toasted flash. Here’s hoping the Flash Centre come through again this time when I send it back. Not quite sure how I’m going to explain the scorch marks!

Anyway a ‘brief intermission’ later and we were able to carry on with a replacement head. Alessia was a trouper and opted to carry on despite almost going up in smoke; I’m not sure I’d want to be next to one of those after that!

Well I think the photos were worth it despite the fact that, depending upon Elinchrom customer service, it might end up being a very expensive photoshoot!

More adventures (although hopefully not like this one) to come.

Alex

I started the week by being the first unwitting subject of a certain Mr Joe McNally. For those of you that don’t know, Joe has been a pro for about 40 years, was the last Life staff photographer and has worked for more publications than I care to shake a very long stick at (think National Geographic, Sports Illustrated etc etc). Crazy being on the other side of his lens! Joe’s a really awesome guy: at 58 he still spends 95% of his life tearing around the world shooting. After he got done shooting me, I really enjoyed having him rip into my photos and tell me just how badly I’d got it all wrong (I guess whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!). As it turns out, most of the time I seem to be pretty good at ripping my images apart even before Joe starts

After a few days of that I decided to head down to the Burj Arab for some sunset photos. I caught the one below just as the sun was hitting the horizon.

Hit the read more link for some more photos and the rest of part 1…

We also had the lovely Laura along with us and as such decided to shoot a few of her mucking around on the beach. Light is from a gridded Quadra in a small Chimera (I think this is the last photo I’ll get from that Quadra but more on that next post)…

I also took a quick walk around the Dubai Souks. Very friendly people, ended up buying a lot of spices and taking quite a few photos. Stopped by the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building) and rocked out there with some friends. All in all a very enjoyable day and great to be able to say that I saw at least a little bit of Dubai!

Anyway time for me to get to the bar. Big day tomorrow, not quite sure what it’s going to involve, I just know it’s going to be big.

More adventures forthwith!

Alex