To be up-front honest . . . I don’t know. I actually didn’t go to it on purpose. Well, I guess I went on purpose, but I hadn’t taken time to really understand what I was attending. My friends at the MQ Camera Center in Syracuse, NY had invited me. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a special engraved invitation. I think probably every customer who could walk in the door got the same invitation. Still, they’re all good guys at MQ. So, it’s easy to accept an invitation to learn something new about photography equipment.

It wasn’t until my friend Ross and I showed up at the community darkroom on the Syracuse University campus, however, that I realized the subject was Profoto lighting equipment. For those who don’t know, Profoto equipment is well known as the top of the line studio lighting equipment. While some of its equipment nominally portable, it’s not portable enough to fit in my camera backpack, so it’s not likely I’ll ever own any of it.

Diffused light helps soften the highlights on this Brandenburg Gate rose.

But, I hung in there long enough to learn a few things and be reminded of a few others, before Ross and I decided it was time for us to leave. Wasted night, right? I don’t think so. I didn’t catch the name of the gentleman making the presentation but he made some points early on that made the trip worthwhile . . . at least as far as I’m concerned.

It was helpful to be reminded that artificial lighting is all about creativity. For outdoor photographers, the sun is our primary light source and we are totally at its mercy. We can’t change its intensity or its position. But, with artificial light we can modify the affects of the sunlight on our subjects. We can affect the harshness of the shadows, for example. With diffusers, we can even modify the intensity of the sunlight, at least on small subjects before our lenses.

I may never use a Profoto D1 studio kit but I use a simple portable diffuser/reflector to soften harsh midday sun when photographing wild flowers.

But what was the bottom line of our visit to the Community Darkroom tonight? As the photographers, we’re in control of our images, whether or not we’re in a studio; with our without artificial light. It’s a good reminder.