Welcome to Make it Monday!
Many of us played sports growing up and my "sport of choice" was swimming. If you've ever been to a swim meet, particularly in the Washington D.C. area where every kid in the county seems to be present, you know that there's a lot of waiting around that occurs before one actually gets to compete. As a young swimmer, there are a few options to pass the time while waiting for your event to be called: (a) listen to music (b) do homework (c) stretch (d) hang out with your teammates - or my personal favorite - (e) borrow "mom's" camera and run around the pool deck taking pictures of everything. I can confidently say that swimming got me into photography.
 |
| Photo By: Erik Isakson |
As I became more interested in photography and spent more hours in a darkroom, I began to spend less time in the pool. That being said, I've maintain an active lifestyle in order to be a strong photographer. Simply put: photo shoots can last any where from two to twelve hours and as a photographer, I need to be on my feet the whole time. I shoot in the field and carry my necessary camera gear on my back, which can be quite heavy. Throughout a shoot I'm walking, running, bending, kneeling, gesturing - quite the "all day" workout.
If you are like me and have a passion for swimming - or sports in general - and photography, chances are good that you're also interested in sports photography. Based out of Southern California, commercial photographer, Erik Isakson, has been creating what he calls "sports lifestyle imagery". In the image below, we can see Isakson photographing a basketball player. One of the main props that Isakson is using in this shoot is water.
In the video below, Isakson explains how he used the PocketWizard Flex TT5 to set off his Profoto8 strobes. When you watch the video, I'd like you to notice how Isakson has back lit his subjects by placing the strobes behind them. How does this lighting technique add to the content of Isakson's photographs? How does this lighting technique effect the water that is being poured - or thrown - onto his subjects?
 |
| Erik Isakson Shooting on Set |