Peter Coulsen Lite - With Hasselblad

I love Peter Coulsen evenings. There is always something good the see and do. So it was last Thursday at Hotel Northbridge when the C.R. Kennedy people rounded up a great deal of Bowens and Hasselblad gear - and the specialist trade chaps from Sweden and England  - and organized for Peter and his model, Natasha, to entertain us.


Entertain and instruct. Anders led us through the improvements and features of the new Hasselblad H5D cameras. It seems that they are available in 40, 50, 60 and Multi-Shot sizes so that all levels of professional activity can be attended to. He was able to explain the True Focus technology that means you get the focus point that you really intended when you first sight through the camera - even if you change your framing radically.

The Bowens light packs are also new - with a great deal of power control for studio work. Peter was able to use one during his portion of the show to good effect - the floor pack never faltered and delivered exactly repeatable light each time - not a bad thing in anyone's studio.

Peter is amazing - he used one light for most of his demonstration, just reconfiguring it with a softbox or hard head and shifting it about on a boom arm. Note: Camera Electronic supplied the boom arm and 'C' Stand for the demo and it worked well. The gravity that kept it all in place was already there on the evening...

He and his model, Natasha, have been traveling Australia explaining the lighting that he uses for his fashion shots - coincidentally using the new Bowens and Hasselblad gear. It was a bit of an eye opener to see just how little he needed to change the position or intensity of the light to get completely different looks from the model. Of course the model is good - really knows how to pose well, and I must record my admiration for her patience in standing so well for so long. Most of us would have collapsed from exhaustion and tumbled through the paper backdrop long before the end of the evening - of course most of us could not have climbed into those 6" heels without a ladder, so you can tell she was good.

As with all of these trade evenings, we watched the audience as much as the show - looking of incipient signs of someone reaching for their wallet - and they seemed to enjoy themselves as well. Now all we need is for a dozen of them to press forward and order new Hasselblads and the evening will be perfect.

PS: If you really want to have fun, wear red shoes to a Peter Coulsen night and see what happens...