Sports photography and advertising photography are arguable two of the most exciting areas of the business. Commercial photographer Monte Isom managed to combine both when he was commissioned to shoot ice hockey players, in action for an advertising campaign by Molson beer.
Isom and his team got to spend some time on the ice with several burly hockey players, Profoto flash packs, a Phase One 645 with 30mp back and a Nikon D3, its 11 frames per second, ideal for capturing the action. The Profoto packs were picked for their short flash duration and very fast recycling times, indeed, not a shot was missed by these flash packs on this shoot.
The lighting set up, despite the complexity of the shoot was kept fairly simple and consisted of one beauty dish and two or three narrow beam reflectors, dialed down low to prevent the ice from blowing out.
The team had access to the ice rink overnight, giving them a good 9 hours of uninterrupted shooting time and the client Molson, provided some liquid refreshment to keep them going.
As can clearly be seen in the video, the team not only enjoyed themselves but came back with some fantastic images for the Molson Export campaign.
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awesome photograph
I understand why…but I just don’t think flash pholography works with hockey. It doesn’t look natural. Of course, I say this biased as a long time NHL shooter. Flashes and shadows with dark rinks looks nothing like real hockey. Perhaps that is the look the client was going for….just not my cup of tea.