Gear Testing

When I go on location shoots I always bring multiples of everything in case something doesn't work or breaks. Extra batteries, extra camera, extra lights, extra sync cables and multiple ways to fire my strobes beyond that. One annoying thing I tend to do though, is realize something isn't working right, then throw it back in a bag or case and forget about it. So I'll be at the next shoot and hook up that same broken sync cable. Today I didn't have a shoot and I decided to be smart and go through my road gear and test it out. To make the mundane a little more interesting I set up this manikin and also messed around with some simple lighting techniques - basically moving one light around in different positions in a shoot-thru umbrella. Some of my lighting on jobs has become too formulaic and I've decided another 2018 goal is to start back at the basics and build my skills back up - trying old and new things.
So now I know which of my cables work, which strobes need new modeling lights - and I'm on another journey to improve my overall skills.