Small Garage Paradise

While my move to Austin, Texas has overall been wonderful, one of the tough parts has been leaving behind my dream garage in Minnesota. The time has come to rectify this situation, and make my little garage here in Austin into a gearhead escape. 

I'm looking for suggestions from readers about how to affordably outfit a small garage, with a focus on DIY and products that provide high return (they don't have to be cheap--just worth it).

So if you have suggestions for projects, products or designs that use space efficiently, let me know! Send some photos if you've done something particularly space-saving or just plain cool in your own garage.

Note that my garage caters to several specific needs. It houses motorcycles and gear, bicycles and gear, camping gear, canoe gear, and a small workbench with a vise and a grinder.

Here are some of the specific storage challenges I'm looking to solve:

• How to coat the garage floor in a high-quality, DIY, economical fashion
• Motorcycle gear storage; any interesting ideas for helmets, gloves, etc.
• Bicycle storage: as compact and efficient as possible
• Laptop mounting: I'd like to have a station to mount your laptop near the work bench for garage projects
• Air conditioning / Heating: I'm interested in one wall-mounted unit that does both, as efficiently as possible
• Garage door technology: I'm interested in garage doors that are space-efficient.

If you have suggestions that will help small garage owners, drop me a line at lee@671press.com.

Chimera F2 10x20-foot Light Bank

Creating studio photography of some of the rare and collectible John Deere tractors at the Keller Collection in Brillion, Wisconsin provided an interesting challenge.

The collection of valuable machines is owned by Walter and Bruce Keller. The father-son duo has more than 620 tractors, with more than 400 of those John Deeres. The son, Bruce, runs a commercial construction business, and he worked closely with me to build the studio to photograph his tractors.

Bruce and I determined that the studio could be built inside a closed building with minimal outside light sources and ample power. The largest of the machines, the Model 8010, was 18 feet long, and more than 11 feet high. After careful calculation, I determined a 20x30-foot floor space would be big enough for the 8010. The walls would be 16 feet high. This would allow us to photograph the big machine, as well as about 30 others.

The crew of seven consisted of myself and Bruce Keller. Walter was in and out, providing commentary on the machines. A videographer and second photographer (Josh Kufahl) and editorial assistant (Joseph Holschuh) were hired to keep the shoot running smoothly. Another three men were hired to move, wash, and detail the tractors. All of us would work together to construct the studio.

Lighting the machines properly required a large, overhead source of direct, even light. The best choice for a light modifier was the Chimera 10x20-foot F2 light bank. This large soft box uses two layers of translucent silk to soften the light. You can also (as we did) bounce the light off the inside cover of the top of the box. The result is even light on a vehicle that provides gorgeous highlights on the top curves and casts enough soft light on the entire subject to require only minimal bounce card fill in order to create beautiful studio images.

The large box is key, as it makes the reflections on the machine clean and seamless. Post-production work was minimal, as the highlights were nearly perfect as shot.
We powered our 10x20-foot light bank with eight Speedotron heads powered by two 4803 strobe packs. The result was even light that was incredibly powerful. When I metered the first shoot, which had the box about eight feet off the ground (set for the shorter machines), the light read F20 @ 1/200th at the top of the stack of the tractor and F16 at the bottom of the scene. The meter actually read F16 under the tractor, as the light bounced off the floor with considerable strength. The exposure range was similar with even the largest tractors under the box.

The 10x20 bank we used is the transportable model. Heavier versions are available for permanent studio use. Our bank weighed about 150 pounds without lights, making it easy to lift into place.

The box is easily transportable, and folds down into three large duffel bags. We used the older generation box, which is set up with tools. Construction required several hours of work by four people. Chimera has since changed the design, and the new model can be set up with two people in less than two hours.  The new version of the box is priced at $9,900, and available direct from Chimera. 

Note: Photos by Josh Kufahl.