WELCOME
My name is Al Jacobson, also known as the GadgetMeister. I have been making photographic flash products as a super way of keeping happily active for most of my life. It's purpose is offsetting most of the aggravation of working in both the Corporate and Retail world. In retirement, it keeps the hands working, legs moving, and the better food on the table.
I have been building on a very limited basis for the specialized work of advanced amateurs, paparazzi, wedding shooters and the sports guys for fifty plus years. It didn't make me rich, just comfortable enough to avoid welfare, go to trade shows, but richer when your hobby allows you to meet some very special people.
I like simple, easy to use, gear that works, and thats why I made my own battery packs initially. I like simple designs. I like to share ideas with others. It's through the sharing of ideas that is my form of social media.
This year I dropped Facebook because it got too commercial, stupid eMails, dumped Twitter because of nit-twits and cancelled my NRA membership because their platform became too political. It's not the competitive shooting and hunting organization I joined. The Aurora and Newtown tragedies opened my eyes to a really sick culture in the NRA. It really needs a management change. I didn't drop out of society, just choosing more carefully. I write seven columns and keep very busy and am blessed to have many friends and fans that make up enough sociality for my world.
Let me thank you for dropping in. Your interest is appreciated. I will tell you up front my website is a lot bigger than you might think and it is really diversified.
THREE MAIN SECTIONS
* Products I designed and build. The Black Box, and the Tuxedo power packs for the most common strobes on the market today and many legacy units.
* A guide for " Do it Yourself " with great inexpensive products you can build yourself. Just the local hardware store and common everyday tools build inexpensive gizmos to make your life easier.
* The Wedding Book for Beginners and Pros alike which contains sections on business and practice for the new Photographer. You learn a lot in 55 years. I am an intersection of knowledge picked up from photographers all over the world. It's amazing how freely they offer good advice which I readily share, usually with a touch of humor and sarcasm.
No sense of humor, then go read the phone book. I will tell you what I think and it will be truthful, no manufacture owns me and a few would like me to go away. It's ingrained for me to slam shams and scams. I write columns and blogs on bad food, aljacobskitchen.com, bad people, aljacobsladder.com, all those things you talk about at the water cooler you weren't supposed to.
The BLACK BOX and TUXEDO
If word of the BLACK BOX, or the cure for the fumbling, inadequate, inconsistent use of AA batteries got you here, you are saved. You are in the right place. I build the Black Boxes because I saw a need. But this gear is different in process and performance from cheaper methodology like NiMH powered packs composed of AA batteries you take out and refill. Isn't that what you wanted to get away from?
Most pro gear is too expensive, too short lived and just when you need get stared or get ahead, you blow more money on something else and the wife starts to look at you like you need rehab. I started building these boxes for the Wedding and Event work I was doing, being a basically frugal individual.
WEDDING SEASON - UPGRADES - REPAIRS
Because of our designs, upgrades are more like simple maintenance. We are different from others in which enormous amounts of money are needed to sustain the products. It's called simplicity. And that keeps the product up to speed, and usable for minimal cost for a long, long, time.
This is important because you want to be at the top of your game and we can take that five year old Black Box and make it into a 2013 with a snap of the fingers and an average of about 60-70 dollars.
We are in the dreaded pre-wedding Season when men think about football, and women think about weddings. The feared Tyrino Bridus Rex and her mate, Brewusasouras, decided to make it legal. Fourteen offspring eggs do that to you. So lets get on the ball and get these packs updated, charged, tested and ready for the forthcoming slaughter. It could be you!
And for me this means upgrades and repairs to get people back on track. For you this might mean "working with patience". Weddings are work and you need "patience" before you swap the camera for a gun and make a "patient" out of the Bride. Leave the groom alone, he just really wants it over and to climb back into his man-cave with the new 90 inch SONY 4K TV ( or is it another wall in the man cave) and a brewski.
THE WEDDING and BUSINESS GUIDE (FREE)
The Wedding guide and business plan are updated daily. It is a lot of information, more added daily. Better to read it, learn about the forces, mental, chemical, and physical effecting this trial of your patience, rather than have to pay a shrink when you have a breakdown.
It explains the people structure and the pitfalls, what to look out for and how to prepare to be smarter than the "Bridezilla's" of today. The Wedding Guide shares those thoughts and ideas I wrote about over fifty years ago, still dead on because Weddings haven't changed, only some bad actors debuting for their roles on "Bad Girls" or some other "Kardashian reality" show.
The second section is the most complete series of both mental structuring, and good business sense to succeed in this business or any other for that matter. Much of it came from field training I wrote and practiced for a large corporation which is still in business. The number one failure in the Wedding-Event game is you. Prospecting for new clients probably stopped after you shot your cousins Wedding. The business is like farming, don't plant seed, don't expect a crop.
The third section is really pointers on gear and will be expanded significantly. I see a lot of dumb trends being pushed missing the whole thing about Weddings, it's not about you, it's about the bride. The gear you select and use are tools, in the hands of a buffoon, they are useless, expensive toys won't save you, it's the simple ideas and tricks that work under stress conditions.
I FAILED ENGLISH, SO I BECAME A WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER
Why not? Early on I learned some really cheesy folks can and went on to become Teachers, Policemen, Congressmen, Senators, Judges and Presidents. You fill in the names, I know from research who they are in my blog called aljacobsladder.com which is unbiased, uncut, and relentless.
I figured I could write about anything I like if I put my mind to it. Unfortunately I was kinda choosey and didn't care for the "writing" in my English class. I referred to Shakespeare's words as "spake as a flake".
That got me out of the grace of the teacher. The killer was a book report on Julius Caesar where I had to read aloud one page from something Shakespeare wrote, I picked a scene where Brutus mentions a questionable and unmentionable act upon Caesar. That got the class roaring and I got the Deans office. It taught me the power of words and how to get thrown out of English class.
I was never alone in detention, always had my gang and clan buddies with me. I lived in a predominant Jewish - Italian neighborhood and I am a paid member of the Kosher Nostra.
OTHER WEB SITES OF MINE
POLITICS, SEX, and RELIGION EXPOSED
"Things not spoken about except at the water cooler"
FOOD, FODDER and FOIE GRAS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY
"How to get thrown out as a food critic, tell the truth"
THE CENTRAL COMMAND MEMORIAL
"Country Served"
ACCURATE PLATING and WEAPONRY
"Professional Factory Gunsmithing and Plating"
DIAL INDICATOR REPAIR
"Make your Indicator like New"
http://www.indicatorrepairsite.com
Disclaimer
This website and the book on Weddings has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and we make no claims it will cure any disease, or malady caused by shooting at Weddings or at worst someone from the wedding shooting you.
No Photographers, horses or canines were injured during the writing of this book and if you cannot afford an attorney, my nephew will be available at the usual exaggerated attorney fees for malpractice cases so I can get my cut. We use two, sometimes three ICONS to represent certain circumstance.
"DIGGER" INDICATES UNDER CONSTRUCTION
NO SMOKE NO BULLSHIT - You are about to get truth.
Deader than Casey's Balls
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Updated 6 hours ago
A2 Hosting, Inc.
Hello Alan,
As we discussed on the phone, I ran a virus scan of your site to determine if there was any malicious content that was being flagged by Google. This scan has come up negative, which leads me to believe that it may be a false positive. The Google Webmaster Tools link in the warning doesn't point to any specific files, so I would get in touch with Google's technical security to see why the site was flagged.
If you need any help from our end, please let us know.
Regards,
Daniel V. | support@a2hosting.com
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