Things have been rather quiet on my blog because it’s been busy around here with getting the Barn ready to rent out, commercial work and shooting communion sessions. I don’t know if it’s done in other parts of the world but here in Belgium, communions are one of the only occasions where many people want to get pictures of their kids taken by a professional photographer. It’s not my core business but I see it as a service to many of the clients who gave me their trust to photograph their small children when I just started out.

I like to pack extremely light and keep my gear very simple for theses sessions because time and budget are usually limited and also because I like to focus on the kid instead of on the gear. I bring lots of lenses and lights, but usually they stay in my car except for the 5D mk2 with the 70-200, a light stand with umbrella, a 580EX2 flash and my TTL pocketwizards (which I still use mostly on manual). I’m always on the lookout for little things that make my life easier, my workflow faster and in the end, get me better pictures. When I heard about the Frio coldshoe, it seemed like it could be one of those things.

The Frio is not a revolutionary device, it’s a coldshoe for mounting a small flash on a light stand (or tripod, gorillapod, clamp, …). I have plenty of little gadgets that do this, so normally I wouldn’t even bother to look at it. But it comes from the same people that came up with the Orbis Flash ring light adapter for speedlights and I know they got their act together. That’s why I decided to take the Frio for a test drive during some fast paced communion shoots.

The biggest difference with the traditional cold shoe designs is that the Frio doesn’t use any sort of screw to lock the flash onto the cold shoe. You basically slide it in and it “clicks” into place. To release it, you simply push on the lever and slide the flash out. The Frio is made from what appears to be very sturdy plastic and there’s no chance that your expensive flash will fall out of the shoe.

We’ve been blessed with amazing weather and light these past few weeks in Belgium so I’ve shot most communion sessions with just available light (hey, I sometimes do that). But sometimes you just want to quickly set up a flash like in the picture below. The sun back lights the boy and I used a speedlight with an umbrella (camera right) to get the light on the face right.

Could I’ve done that shoot without the Frio? Sure! But sometimes it’s those few extra seconds or that little extra convenience that make our job more enjoyable. I keep my 580 EX2′s mounted on Pocketwizard TT5′s in my bag. Until recently I just screwed the TT5 straight onto the swivel adapter when I got to the location. This doesn’t take much time but sliding the TT5/580EX2 combo onto the Frio is just a touch more convenient. My Frio’s are here to stay.