Carry On: Nasty Clamps

© 2012 Brian Adams

Carry On is back! I know it's been a long time since my last post, for which I am sorry. The thing is: I just don't have that much gear. I have always believed in packing light and keeping it simple. That said, when I do come across photo equipment I believe in, I love pushing it to friends!

This week's Carry On features none other than the mildly obscene but incredibly useful Nasty Clamp. I love my Nasty Clamp, which was a gift from my friend Steven Rychetnik, a camera operator with whom I worked on The Frozen Ground. Steve was telling me about his personal efforts to push the Nasty Clamp in Alaska because he is friends with the founder of the company and sincerely believes in the product. I see why; after a little word of mouth, I believe a product like this will blow up in no time. (I actually had a good laugh today because ten minutes after I decided to do a Carry On post on the Nasty Clamp, I saw that PDN recently posted a piece entitled "Our Ten Favorite Photo Accessories" featuring the Nasty Clamps.)

So what's so great about this product? The industrial strength clamp can just about clamp onto anything it can get it's mouth around. I find it most useful when clamped onto chairs (pictured above), bookshelves, tables--basically anything that is in your way when you can't get a light stand in. The Nasty Clamp is small, lightweight and can hold up to one pound without budging. I use my Nasty Clamp with my Vivitar 283, and I love it because my 283 has a Flash Foot One adapter on it with a 1/4" thread on the bottom, so I can simply screw the flash directly on the Nasty Clamp. I believe this is a product we strobist photographers have been talking about for years and were surprised that no one had made it. So, despite your silly name (my wife thinks it sounds like a new name for a vagina), thanks, Nasty Clamps!