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Photography News | Issue 39 | absolutephoto.com
Bowens GenerationX: a new way to freeze time andmotion Steve Brown has made a career out of capturing unique and captivating high-speed moments in time. He tells us how the Bowens Generation X flash system has been a game changer for him and for the photographs he loves to take
Steve Brown likes to come at life from a different perspective. It’s a commercial photo strategy that has served him well for the past 14 years – as he now boasts a client list almost as long as the 100ft convertedbarge he lives on, a stone’s throw fromLondon’s Tower Bridge. This is a multi-talented photographer who thrives on working under serious pressure both in the studio and on location, and is obsessed with speed – or more accurately: the freezing of speed. Steve is amaster at stopping life in its tracks – expertly capturing a single moment frozen in time using the fusion of experience, skill and the employment of latest imaging tools. After graduating in 2002 he assisted other photographers for two years and used the money he earned to buy equipment – a decent camera and a set of Bowens Gemini heads (that he says he knew would never let him down) while he focused on building his business. He inveigled his way into the music world and started shooting photos of small bands before morphing into the more profitable area of TV publicity work, photographing actors and the sets on which they worked. He was commissioned to produce stills for Dr Who
and later, the spin-off Torchwood . As he became better known in the TV firmament he found a rush of work coming in from the BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 5. Then big name blue chips like Sony, Hitachi and Shell started dialling his number. When Steve’s wife Lorna got involved with roller derby (a high-speed contact sport in which competing teams roller skate in the same direction around a track) he was hooked. He took pictures (at that time using Bowens Creo equipment) and then put out tentative feelers with other fast sports such as American football, ice hockey and baseball, that are still niche in the UK. Now Steve is also hooked on Bowens’ brand-new, state-of-the-artGenerationXflash system – which he describes as ‘a revelation that will completely change the way I work.’ He says: “Now with these new Bowens Generation X lights (XMS for studio and XMT for locationwork) I canplan and execute much more interesting sports shoots. When you’re constrained by flash duration you can shoot portraits – nice static stuff – but sport is all about movement and energy so you need to be able to capture that fast motion. The simple fact is that the speed, precision and
consistency of GenerationX is better than any other flash system I have ever used. These are 100% the best Bowens lights ever.” “I met Shaina, a high-kicking martial arts expert, in a Brixton gym,” he continues. I was mesmerised watching her practising some kata (patterns) with a bo staff – and I thought that capturing these fantastic roundhouse kicks that had so much speed and movement would just look superb. And to be honest I had also acknowledged that I didn’t have the facility to capture this at such high speed – but I knew the newBowens systemwas coming.” In the studio shoot Steve used a total of five XMS heads, a mix of 750W/s and 1000W/s, with two strip softboxes plus egg crate grids on the back producing a sidelight effect; a small Octo90 softbox on the front and then two bare heads on the background. “We set up the lights and then ran through the various movements she could demonstrate,” explains Steve. “I knew that the amazing fast recycle times on the XMS would be vital. I could just get her to perform and leaveme to just shoot and shoot and shoot – and just see what point in the movement sequence was most compelling. Before Generation X I would have had to take one
Generation X enables me to just shoot and shoot and shoot. I love it
Images When Steve met martial arts expert Shaina he knew immediately that her spectacular high kicks would make unique and innovative still images. It was just a question of waiting for the new system from Bowens to become available so he could make his vision a reality.
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