Our Golf Cart Photo Light Stand
This is the story behind our custom-built golf cart photo light stand that we call Lightning McQueen.
For many years, we were using as many as three Canon Speedlites on a single light stand to help us light our wedding photos and portraits while on location. While these regular strobes are very portable, they are not very powerful, so that’s why we had to use up to three of them at a time on just one light stand. Often times we had three more of them on a second light stand! They also really weren’t built to handle all that heavy use that we gave them week in and week out. We’ve literally burned out more than a dozen of them in just two years!
Scotty, We Need More Power!
Much more powerful battery powered compact strobe units are now available and we’re very invested in the system to take advantage of all that portable power. Just one of these new “Super Speedlites” is more powerful than four of the Canon Speedlites we were using before!
And to make it even more portable, I’ve put it on wheels!
Meet “Lightning McQueen”, our custom designed photo light stand!
“Lightning McQueen” all decked out!
We Love Disney/Pixar
One of my favorite Pixar friends is Lighting McQueen. So when it came time to name our lighting contraption it was relatively easy to for me to choose Lighting McQueen. Lightning is a combination of a very high powered Speedlite (the lightning part), and a carryall on wheels. While not nearly as fast as Lightning McQueen, it really helps speed up getting around with lots of gear on-location! Ka-chow!
We put Lighting McQueen into service for the first time at Kevin & Megan’s pretty wedding reception at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen, MN. It takes less than 5 minutes to put Lightning McQueen together, and fully load it with photography gear and then we’re on our way.
Our very own “Lightning McQueen” in action!
Above is a behind the scenes wedding showing “Lighting McQueen” in action at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The image we created with it is shown below.
Kevin & Megan share a quiet moment at the arboretum. Lighting applied from our very own “Lightning McQueen!”
In light wind conditions, it can sport one of our GoMo 36″ or 48″ Octa Softboxes to help us create even more flattering lighting for our wedding photography & portrait clients.
Behind the scenes photo of Brandon and Amy being nicely lit by our custom lighting cart that we call “Lightning McQueen”!
The finished engagement portrait with lighting coming from Mother Nature and our very own “Lightning McQueen”!
Not Just For Wedding Photography
We’ve been using “Lighting McQueen” as often as we can for not only wedding photos but also for creating nice lighting for engagement portraits, kids photos, senior pictures, pet portraits and family portrait photography too! Below is a Stillwater engagement portrait of Anne & Noah standing up on a hill with Lightning McQueen’s light stand extended all the way to 13 feet.
A beautiful hidden spot in Stillwater, MN.
We use Lighting McQueen extensively in our Portrait Park as well. Lightning doesn’t do stairs particularly well, so places like Minnehaha Falls (at the bottom) are probably a no go. But in most other photography locations Lightning has worked like a charm. Lightning McQueen has worked on multiple occasions in very hilly Stillwater, MN for both senior photo and engagement portrait sessions.
Here’s the parts list I used to create “Lighting McQueen”:
- (1) TourTrek One Click 360 Golf Cart
- (2) Impact Titling Boom Pivot Clamp
- (2) Impact Super Clamp with Ratchet Handle
- (1) 13’ Impact Air-Cushioned Heavy-Duty Light Stand
- (2) 24” Heavy Duty Bungee Cords
- 36” Aluminum Rod cut into 2 pieces with special “holding groves”
“Lighting McQueen” can also transport a second 13’ Impact Air-Cushioned Heavy-Duty Light Stand, a tripod, a monopod, 2 reflectors, a GoMo 36″ or 48″ Octa Softbox with grid, our Tamrac 614 Camera Bag with one or two Canon 5D Mark III cameras and several lenses, two high powered MoLight AD360II-C Super Flashes, two LightSpikes, a brides bag, and Joannie’s purse too!
Behind the scenes photo of Morgan, her mom, Rachel, helping out as my lighting assistant, and our very own Lightning McQueen as the main light.
Our state-of-the-art mobile lighting system will be used exclusively on “Lighting McQueen” and can consist of the following when needed:
- (2) MoLight X1-C transmitters
- (2) MoLight AD360II-C Super Flashes
- MoLight V860II-C Speedlight
- One or two FP Flashpoint Blast Pack BR-960 Lithium Batteries
- GoMo 48″ Octa Softbox with grid
- GoMo 36″ Octa Softbox with grid
- (2) Bowens S Adapter
- (2) Q Clip Clamps
- (2) Power Cords with (2) “Y” Power Adapters
Morgan strikes a pose in front of the huge music street mural in downtown Minneapolis, MN.
“Lightning McQueen” had been in full use now for several wedding and portraits seasons. We’re amazed at the images we can create because we have the ability to take such powerful strobe lights to our wedding & portrait locations that we couldn’t easily do before. – M&J