Photography News | Issue 40 | absolutephoto.com
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NewBowens XMT500: freezing time – evenwhen it’s freezing motion Pro action photographer Steve Brown has to deal with all sorts of challenging assignments, including shooting in the freezing cold, miles from a mains supply. That’s why on this job he packed a pair of the brand-new Bowens XMT500 battery-powered flash heads
It was 6am on a lonely Suffolk beach and it was very cold indeed – especially if you’re running up and down on unforgiving sand and wearing nothing but a big smile, a pair of short shorts and a vest top, trying to please a top action photographer and a Bowens production team. London-based photographer Steve Brown explains: “We were carrying out a day’s test shoot using the new Bowens Generation X XMT500 flash heads. The video production team and I were well wrapped up against the freezing cold and still shivering – but endurance runner Susie Chan just wore her normal gear as we asked her to sprint up and down the beach over and over again – and still she remained cheerful and friendly – she’s a real star.” Steve’s shooting brief from Bowens was to capture and freeze action with the XMT500 all-in-one battery flash system, complete with its TTL technology, high-speed sync and nine stops of flash power. So Steve decided he wanted to use a real athlete for the shoots on the beach and later in nearby woods – and athletes don’t come more real than Susie Chan. She’s an acclaimed ultra-runner which means that she tackles any distance over a 26-mile marathon – perhaps even 100 miles. In January 2016 she set aworld record for treadmill runningwhen she clocked up almost 70 miles in 12 hours (though she no longer holds this record). Says Steve, “I didn’t want to photograph a model who can maybe run 20 yards a couple of times. I wanted a visual story about a real runner – a leader in the field. I found Susie on Instagram and she agreed to work with us on this XMT project.” At 5.30am, close to Lowestoft, the duo made its way down a winding country lane to the beach. Adds Steve: “We meandered past some fields and a pig farm – and that journey
in itself was a great illustration of why having the Bowens backpack containing two XMT500 heads is fantastic; it’s just so easy to carry. Photographers don’t want to have to lug a huge and heavy bag of kit down some muddy trails.” They located the beach, met up with the video team and then set the lights up – all in freezing temperatures and a very strong, unhelpful breeze. “I briefed Susie that I needed to capture the purist sensation of running – the body movement,” he notes. “The challenge was that it needed to be right at the focus point we had set up to take the picture. We literally drew a line in the sand so Susie could then take a nice long stride just as she hit that point – and make sure she looked good with her arms and legs all in the right position. “Position is important because there are a couple of points in a stride, as you run, that look superb – and a couple of points that look awful. We needed her to hit the right point in her stride and the right point on the beach, additionally, we needed a good pose. Facial expression isn’t something you think about if you are running but this makes a big difference when you need great photographs of someone running.” On the beach Steve used his Canon EOS 5D Mark II along with two XMT500s fitted with 60x80cm softboxes. The camera was fitted with the new XMTR radio trigger, available for Canon, Nikon and Sony DSLRs, which is used for TTL and manual flash shooting and enables wireless triggering fromup to 80m. Despite the questionable weather Steve had a successful shoot. “We did have a brief interlude when the sun popped out between the clouds,” smiles Steve. “We were shooting from the other direction at that point so we had to quickly spin the lights around to take advantage of the natural light – but I didn’t
mind that because having the XMTR trigger on the camera meant I could quickly adjust the power output for light suddenly coming through the cloud.” He adds: “The only real challenge on the beach was that as we started shooting the tide began to roll in and one of the lights ended up standing resplendent in a few inches of water – but hey, they are Bowens lights, they can take it.” On the move In the afternoon (before a Hollywood movie- style rain shower brought the session to a premature halt) the team embarked on an entirely different shoot dynamic. Steve explains: “This part was quite unusual because we had to clamp the XMT500 heads to the production crew’s Range Rover. I was lying in the back of the vehicle with the lights clipped onto the roof and we drove along with me photographing out of the back of the vehicle while Susie was running along behind. This was a brilliant example of why it’s so cool to have lights with no trailing wires – this means it’s simple to adjust from inside the car when they are outside the car.”
With the Bowens XMT500 partnered with the XMTR trigger it means you can control ambient light with shutter speeds up to 1/8000sec
Images For this shoot, Steve Brown had endurance runner Susie Chan running in the woods behind a car and on the beach. He used the Bowens XMT500 flash system to freeze the action and capture motion.
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