the orbis™ meets a friend

As international mega celebrity and Hollywood royalty David Schwimmer shook my hand, I couldn’t help reminding myself it was all thanks to a photography idea I hatched in my garage in 2005.

Rewinding a few months, I had been demonstrating the orbis™ ringflash on the Snapperstuff stand in the UK when a well-dressed older gentleman had gently told me that he would be my distributor in Italy and that I was immediately to dispatch him several shipping cartons of orbis™ ring flashes. When I told him I would have my office send him some distribution papers to sign, he smiled and with a far-away look said in his excellent, slightly accented English, “You don’t-a need-a the contract. I shake-a your hand, I keep-a my word.” And strangely, that is by and large how things have progressed.

A few weeks later I began to receive insistent faxes that I was needed in Italy to brief his salespeople and tour some dealerships. Flying into a country for a series of demonstrations is not something to be taken lightly. Aside from the time away from my desk and the expense, I always try to combine tours with tradeshows so that I can cover a lot of ground in one hit. And aside from the lure of Italian food, I had no other reason to be in Europe in July. But after much thought, I decided that business development is important, even when I wasn’t totally sure of the business that could develop. So tickets were booked and last week I landed in Milan after a nightmare trans-global 36 hour air (and airport) marathon.

It turns out that GruppoBP, our new Italian distributor, belieing their CEO’s gentle and relaxed manner, is a very well-run, pro-active and cutting edge company.

It quickly became clear that most of their dealers are, too. Hard to concentrate when you’re in a country where even the parking wardens are cute though….

So where does David Schwimmer come into it ? Turns out that my host’s niece used to work in publishing in Italy, so at some point had found herself revolving in Hollywood circles. We met her for lunch halfway through our Italian orbis™ ring flash tour, on a scorching hot day in Florence with one of her close friends, the wife of another Hollywood mega-star. Discretion forces me not to say I lunched with that day, as I reminded myself that there’s nothing worse than being presented as merely “the wife of… “ so-and-so. I’m sure you know what I mean… ever been introduced to some of your girlfriend or wife’s friends as “Oh, this is X’s husband/ boyfriend,” and finding your name is inconsequential? Well, so it is, let’s just suffice to say that she was incredibly charming, gracious and talented, with a high flying career in theatre. Arm candy this lady most definitely isn’t. So lunching with Hollywood royalty was weird enough, but then my host’s niece mentioned that she’d spied David Schwimmer over my shoulder, with some friends and his stunning new fiancée, photographer Zoë Buckman. It seemed rude to turn in my seat so I took the niece’s word for it, but moments later, he came over to our table, kissed the niece like an old friend (which I found out later she was) and introduced himself to us. David and Zoë stopped by our table to chat for a few minutes and then headed off to the Uffizi gallery. Leaving me way beyond bemused at how the day had turned out. I always hoped that inventing the orbis™ ring flash, bringing it to market and seeing it on sale around the world would bring me fame, fortune and a harem of gorgeous models hanging on my every word. I wouldn’t quite say it’s all in the bag yet, but I have to tell you, it’s certainly a crazy ride. And thanks to a random encounter with David Schwimmer, crazy would be about right. Next up on the blog, a great portrait tip.