WELCOME TO MY WORLD
You have arrived and I'm glad you are here. Be patient, this is a large site. It has both products and training, stories about people, projects and forces that drive us through life. It also is a survival guide for new photographers especially those who are attempting to get into paying aspects of the sport like Wedding, Event and Journalism. Please pay careful attention to the categories as there is a lot of information here and as with most larger sites there is a fair amount of cross referencing and links.
The BLACK BOX POWER PACK:
I'm deep into photography and I also love inventing. Sort of Albert Einstein and Frank N. Stein, rolled into one. I am best known for the Black Box Power packs. I am still a working photographer, doing corporate and product work and a shooter chasing politicians and events. I have owned labs and a published writer-critic, and continue today building the stuff I use and developed shipping world wide eight days a week.
But the most important thing I do is problem solving with constraints: Something I learned from USSOCOM. Build things that work better, are simple, field sustainable or repairable, off the shelf, on budget and can be amplified or upgraded. .
Thats the philosophy of the Black Box, sub $200 cost with freight, (CONUS) highest quality, hand built, parts attainable, low or no maintenance, built like an ABRAMS, and upgradeable. And we guarantee it.
The Black Box has more power, actually 5.5 AMP HOURS on a twenty amp draw and still a lightweight at a little over 2.5 pounds. There are several thousand of the Black Boxes out there. The pack came about because I had another EXPENSIVE popular brand drop dead in the middle of a Wedding. Two times was enough for me. After that, I built my own. Fourteen years later, we ship all over the world.
We also offer small add on accessories we call "gizmos". The gizmos are practical priced accessories like light stand holders that are overpriced from the other guys. And if you wish to save even more money just follow the Do It Yourself Instructions. How do we do it?, Unlike the Federal Government we are cost conscious instead of being Fiducially Unconscious. We come up with an idea that saves money and we share it with you. Radical thinking, yes,
In 50 plus years in the photo industry wearing a lot of hats, I probably have messed up more than a few things, guaranteed ticked a few people off, and luckily might have won a few accolades on the balance sheet. Just a few.
The major difference between a PRO and a beginner is EXPERIENCE. That I do have. I made plenty of mistakes and learned from them, you do not have to. I share you with them in the three learning modules we have. Gear Talk explains what good working gear is. The "Wedding Guide" explains the mechanics and dynamics of the Wedding and "Your Business Plan" shows you what you need to be successful.
I am always open to ideas. I just avoid the dumb ones. And lastly I have no allegiances, not owning to any companies or manufacturers for freebies. Everything I use I buy and pay for. Thus if I believe it to be good, I will endorse because I believe in it. And the converse is true, if it doesn't do what it should or promises, I will say so.
TAB - GEAR TALK:
Learn more about batteries and if you never used a Battery Pack, lets get you some higher education.
There are no less than four other categories, topics, including an introduction to Flash, the number one problem new shooters have, the popular Vivitar Flashes, the upcoming Lumopro, what flashes to consider and bad choices. Decisions that you make that will cost you many dollars you did not expect. We also talk about "over clocking strobes" in SPEED KILLS with high speed packs. Also Film, Filters and Flash accessories. This is about mechanics and theory of tools you use. We do not get into too much of Nikon vs. Canon, nor branding, I shoot with and own both.
TAB - MY PRODUCTS:
Many of you are here because you heard about my Black Box from a friend, website or forum. The Black Box, Jacobs Power Packs and the "Fake Batteries" have been around in various incantations and upgrades for the past fourteen years and some of my original packs date back to the sixties with different "chemistries", battery slang for types of batteries.
TAB - ORDERING:
You will find the correct cable for your brand and model of flash, what we don't support, and the least expensive places to order them from. There are things here you won't be told by some of the larger manufacturers. I feel an informed customer makes good decisions. Thats why we do so much repeat business and most of our customers are referral customers.
TAB - PHOTO 101:
The beginners course in Photography to be expanded that I use in schools and classes. So far in basic theology we talk about Composition and light, the cornerstones of the CLASP system. Lots more to be added.
TAB - STORIES:
These are the things I write about other than Photography. Life, Death, Good, Bad, Clowns, Politics, the Old Days, Animals, the Military, other Cultures, the Photo Industry, and my short but sweet ALURISMS which are defined as SARDASTIC. New word: Perfect for todays stories, a combo of Sadistic and Sarcastic.
TAB - The NEWBIE WEDDING GUIDE:
The unabashed boot camp and survival guide for the Photographer new to Weddings and other events who has stepped into a minefield, with compelling issues that tend to surface causing great pain and possible financial losses.
• This book 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 someone from the wedding shooting you.
• No Photographers were injured during the writing of this book and if you cannot afford an attorney, my nephew will be available at the usual attorney fees for malpractice cases.
TAB - YOUR BUSINESS PLAN:
The increasingly competitive and diminishing photo marketplace requires a little planning. Too often, this planning is nothing more than marking a calendar when the next payment is due on your Kaza-Mono-Flex 3000 body you just couldn’t live without. There a lot more to this planning than making payments on time. Especially now, conditions have changed, you have to restructure to survive.
"Your Business Plan" is online now on the server I will continue to expand those sections Both the Wedding Guide and Survival section are constantly evolving as new techniques and processes evolve.
Think about it. All photo business is basically about either “coming out”, people of age, new products, sports or "going into" a community like Weddings, Corporate and Traditional Holiday work. There is business there for the smart one. A good successful photographer is also a good business man. You need a split personality. Our Survival Series will also tell you a lot about you. A little motivational stimuli and training is offered free here in this section. It's what I do when Im not shooting.
This is a large site, with much valuable data hidden under those tabs. We just don't fiddle around! I leave that to Charlie Daniels. I grabbed this shot at the "FREEDOM CONCERT".
I call it "Chapeaus, Buckles, and Bows ".
It is purposely shortened by cropping only to bring the Hat, Fiddle and Buckle closer together. It's called compression.
He, his band and other great entertainers do a fabulous job supporting our troops through the USO tours. More shots from that show under stories.
Again this site contains sections on my products, true equipment evaluations, Do It Yourself Gear, Learning the Wedding Business and How to Survive in business period these days.
The tabs are self explanatory and well, as expected with a site of this size, things will move about as we make improvements.