Photographic Equipment: Walki-Talki’s

Maui, Hawaii

One of the items from my Bag of Solutions That I never leave at home is a pair of Walki-Talki’s. I’ve had a pair near me for years, and when I use to buy them they were $1500.00 for a pair of Motorola’s that had a five-mile reach. Today, you can buy a pair for under $100.00, and the investment would be well worth it…why, you ask?

Because it will add another dimension to your photography. I often like to put someone in my photo to either give scale to my composition, or just to be able to have someone standing, riding, or sitting exactly where you want him/her to be so i can get back and shoot with a telephoto lens. Whether it’s indoor or outdoor, to have that kind of control could be the difference between a good photo and a great photo.

What I do is hook one of the Walki-Talki’s to the subject (somewhere out of sight), and hold the other in my hand while I compose my shot. If I want my subject to move over a step in either direction, or to rearrange his or her body language, or to create some Negative Space between them and whatever it is around them that’s making it hard to define their shape, I merely direct them through my Walki-Talki.

Of course, this means that I’m on a tripod so I can have one hand free. As I’ve said a thousand time to the online class I teach with the BPSOP, or in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I want complete control of my photography and be able to do whatever it is that I’m able to conjure up in my imagination. That means any combination of shutter speeds and aperture settings I want, and be able to have my hands free to do whatever…like holding a Walki-Talki.

OK, the top photo: I was shooting an advertising campaign for United Airlines, and for five weeks all I had to do was to come up with pretty pictures for their upcoming ads. We chose this location as it was a favorite among tourists. I chartered the sailboat and put one of my assistants on it (tough duty). He had a Walki-Talki with him, so I could direct the sailboat back and forth around the lighthouse. All the tourists around me went nuts because they thought it was accidental that the sailboat was there and gave them the opportunity to take back home a memorable picture. I think I was the only one there with a 600mm F/4 lens!!!!

Here are a few examples of using Walki-Talki’s to create interesting photographs that anyone can take without the expense of chartering a sailboat or having an assistant!!

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Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog and come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB