Sometimes legends sneak up on you. Then there are times when friends just tell you to turn down a street to see a pretty cool, historic venue. That was the case when Joe and I drove over to the old Stubb’s Bar-B-Que east of downtown Lubbock. I had always heard of Stubb’s, but I never knew where the actual original restaurant was until last night.

To give a very brief synopsis of the legend that is Stubb, C.B. Stubblefield was a native Texan, when after serving in the armed services as a popular mess sergeant, among other duties, came back to Lubbock, Texas, and started a barbecue restaurant after discovering there really were no great, passionate barbecue restauranteurs in the town. Along the way (and this is where much of the Stubb’s legend begins), Stubblefield picked up a hitch-hiker named Jesse “Guitar” Taylor, who started a Sunday Night Jam at the original Stubb’s Bar-B-Que. From this point forward, the name Stubb’s became synonymous with live music! Not to mention his food was pretty stinkin’ good!

Stubb finally had to close the location in Lubbock, and he eventually opened a Stubb’s Bar-B-Que in Austin, where you can see some of the biggest country and rock stars perform on a near nightly basis. You can find out more information about Stubb’s here.

Joe and I just finished up a shoot on one of the playa lakes in town earlier that evening, and as we were driving back toward downtown, we started talking about Stubb’s and how I thought the original venue was in a different location. Joe, who knows every street in Lubbock like the back of his hand, pointed me in the right direction. We pulled up to a ruin of a building with nothing more left than a back wall and remnants of a tile floor.

And in the middle of the tile floor stood a statue of Stubb himself, holding a platter of ribs. “We have to shoot this Joe!”

To get the shot that you see at the beginning of the post, we just set up a basic portrait lighting scenario with three Canon Speedlites one large stand umbrella, and what Strobist and Joe McNally, among others, call a VAL (voice activated lightstand), i.e. Joe. Joe’s one heckuva guy, a marine, a photographer, and a darn good wealth of Texas knowledge!

I’m a big fan of simple lighting, and that’s just what we used here. With the ambient light in the background fading, we had to work fairly fast to get the right light in the background. If memory serves me right, the ISO was set at 400, and the aperture was set at f/4, allowing the flashes to pump a little juice into the subject. The shutter speed was set at 1/50 to bring in some ambient light (the blue in the background).

Using a 580EX as a master for a 430EX, we positioned the 430EX camera right pretty close to the statue, and it was set at a little less than 1/2 power (if I remember correctly). After chimping the ambient, this is what we got. Not bad, and it looks pretty neat, lighting-wise with the sky light.

However, it’s missing something that makes it pop…a backlight! Enter the second 430EX, no umbrella, VAL operated, camera left and slightly behind the statue. The second 430EX was powered at just below 1/8 power (no umbrella to impede the light), and as you can see here, this is what we got with just the backlight.

Alright, combine them together, and again, this is what you get! I liked the one light setup, but if you have more to work with, why not try, and you may just get a nice addition to the photograph. The great thing about this set up is that it took less time to put together and shoot than it did for you to probably read this blog, and definitely less time than it took to write it!

“I was born hungry and someday I’m going to feed the world.” – C.B. Stubblefield