Sport Photography
F3A South African National Champion, Calvin Schroll
On Thursday 1 May 2014 I had the pleasure of doing some photos for Calvin Schroll, the F3A National Champion for 2014 in South Africa. When it comes to radio controlled aircraft, Calvin is in the elite ranks. His ability to control aircraft via radio is amazing and it is a pleasure watching him fly. On the afternoon I did the photos I watched him fly not only his own, but a few other peoples aircraft. It seems he has a natural ability to adjust to the various types of craft and he makes flying seem incredibly easy. It takes years of practice to get to the level he is at in competition. He won his first competition at the age of nine and has been practicing and competing ever since.
Kickboxing Photography – Klerksdorp Kickboxing Club
Earlier this month I was contracted by WOW Magazine (www.wowmagazine.co.za) to do photography at the Klerksdorp Kickboxing Club for an article celebrating their 10th year and an advertisement. I realised that this was going to be a challenge since they wanted the real feel of action during a normal training session. Nothing would be staged and all the shots I took would be of real training.
I decided to take a long two wireless flashes to cover the lighting effects as I knew that the indoor venue had high ceilings and lights, but not nearly enough. To get a fast enough shutter speed for the action without causing motion while not under-exposing the images you need more light!
At the venue I had a brief chat with Sensei Charl Pretorius who informed me I had open ground and could move anywhere during the training. I also explained a couple of idea of what he wanted. I set up my wireless flashes on two stands and started following the action.
Kickboxing is very fast! Getting a shot was not the issue as I could simply slap a flash on the camera and aim straight at the trainees, but that would result in flat and boring photos, so I moved my wireless flashes back and forth, around them and changed the hight. The trainees never stay in the same position so timing and luck have to come together with the correct light position for a good result.
In the ends I had quite a number of photos that looked interesting and different to that which you would just grab with a normal camera. What is the art in taking a photo anyone would be able to capture? (more…)