Mongonlia was fantastic! Endless rolling grassy hills, huge sand dunes, pristine lakes and friendly people make this a varied and interesting photography destination. Our guide, Anand, was one of the best and deserves huge credit for arranging a lot of our photo ops. And this trip wouldn’t have happened without the hard work of Mirjam Evers and Photo Quest Adventures. I was lucky enough to have one of the first Elinchrom Quadra flash units to take along on this trip and really give it a tough trial run. This pack endured hours of kidney-jarring four wheel drive roads, rain, sand, inconsistent power and even yak dung! The Quadra performed flawlessly. I really enjoyed the benefits of this pack when photographing portraits and needed to shoot a lot of frames fast. The instant recycle times of the Quadra allowed me to shoot blazingly fast, and controlling flash output via the Skyport system was a huge advantage. This image is of “Zoloo”, a throat singer, on the shore of Lake Hovsgol. Nikon D3, 24-70mm lens, 1/250 at F10, ISO 100. Shot with the Quadra using a 39″ Elinchrom Octabank, triggered using Skyports.
Dancing and throat singing are a big part of Mongolian culture, and I was thrilled to photograph one of our dancers, “Tsegii”. Her mesmerizing dancing along with Zoloo’s throat singing was a powerful experience. Nikon D3, 24-70mm, 1/250 at F16, ISO 100. Quadra and 39″ octabank used, triggered wirelessly by a Skyport.
The Quadra is going to be a mainstay for our lighting needs in the future. It packs a punch, can take a lot of abuse, and recycles like a flash pack in the studio, except you are in the middle of the Mongolia in a sand storm!