Music is an essential requirement for my photo shoots. It sets the mood and removes any awkward silcences while I wrangle more ideas out of my brain. One of the most important equipment in my studio was a quality sound system. Not some desktop stereo system, but a Harman Kardon 7.1 channel receiver and JBL floor speakers and sub. It was a party at every shoot.

Music is also just as important for on-location shoots, which is why I’ve always had a portable iPod player. My previous device was a Altec Lansing inMotion iM9. While it still sounds great, there was no option for batteries and was not iPhone compatible. The speakers would buzz from the iPhone’s signal and the phone was too big to fit in the embedded dock. I was able to deal with this for some time, either using my older generation iPod or just switching my iPhone to airplane mode and playing music from the iPod app, but eventually I discovered the wonderful world of internet streamed music through Pandora on the iPhone. This would of course be impossible on an speaker system that would buzz from internet use on a phone, thus I had to look for an upgrade.

After some brief searching and playing with display models in store, I decided to try the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2. The immediate advantages over my older iM9 were obvious. The Pure-Fi had a 10-hour rechargable battery, smaller size, larger speaker drivers, remote control, and of course full iPhone compatibility. The Pure-Fi is half the height of the iM9 while being a bit longer, but it still fits perfectly in my lighting travel case, and they both come with their own travel case.

I’ve used the Pure-Fi at two photo shoots so far and am very happy with it. I won’t bother testing how loud the speakers will go, because it’s loud enough for me where I won’t have to scream at the model, and I don’t hear any distortion. The remote works perfectly navigating the iPhone’s iPod app, and I can also stream internet radio from Pandora now! This relieves me of having to find the right music for the model’s taste, as she can request any artist and I can play it instantly. No longer will I be ridiculed for only playing Britney Spears or Kylie Minogue to get girls to strip naked, nor be limited to only locations with an AC outlet.

As you can see in the photo, the Pure-Fi still sounds great even when it’s been covered by a thong, and with a remote control, having the buttons covered up won’t slow me down. I approve this device to be on Tony Yang’s recommended equipment list.

There is something either satisfying or hypnotizing about watching a LED blink while a battery recharges. In this case, my new AlienBees Vagabond II portable power system does not have a blinking LED, instead it will light up green once it’s 90% charged. I sit there with anticipation waiting for it to light up. This battery will now allow me to shoot in more remote locations with my AlienBees flash units for the first time… now I just need to find a secluded spot.