How’s everyone doing? Sorry for missing my weekly post last week, life has been a bit hectic. I had to head out of the country for a bit. It was definitely much needed and offered a break from the daily monotonous routine. This mini vacation allowed me to take some amazing pics so make sure you check back next week. Spoiler alert, Images from a special festival known as the Junkanoo festival will be posted and will not disappoint. But anyways, back to the reason you came here, to check out some awesome CAPOEIRA IMAGES.
This particular shoot was executed at an abandoned warehouse in Charlotte. This particular location was chosen because it added a very rustic and aged look to the explosive art form of capoeira. In each image lighting was of the upmost importance and can be seen piercing the window creating a misting affect as it gradually reached the subject. But before we touch on that subject, let’s talk a bit about the equipment used in this shoot.
The predominate equipment used to create these awesome images was a Nikon d7000 camera, Enola Gaye smoke grenades, Orlit monolights and of course some amazing capoeiristas. Specifically we needed two Orlit battery operated monolights along with approximately 14 Enola Gaye smoke grenades. Arranging the monolights on opposite sides of the subjects was vital while inverting them when necessary to get those perfect crouching shots was extremely satisfying.
This was the first shoot I had ever done which combined so many creative elements. The first few smoke bombs did not go exactly as planned but with a bit of trial and error, everything gradually came together. The first order of business was correctly dialing in the correct ISO, aperture and shutter speed.
The ISO ranged anywhere from 100 to 400 allowing some very interesting shots to be taken. This one for example shows a large amount of background color from the smoke grenade while properly illuminating the subject. Shutter speeds also drastically ranged from 1/160th of a second to 1/800th of a second. Such drastic variances are due to the amount of lighting gradually fluctuating as clouds passed in front of the sun.
We also had to account for the amount of smoke in the image. Certain colors would either amplify or dull the amount of natural light saturating the shoots location. Yellows and oranges amplified the effect while darks such as blues and purples reduced the overall mystifying images created by the large amount of windows.
Last but not least, I have to comment on the amazing capoeiristas that made this entire shoot possible and of course my good friend and also capoeirista Lucas. Without his expertise, many of the images would not have turned out as great as they did. The Charlotte CDO group were the muses which made this entire event possible. Various years of capoeira experience were represented at this shoot but each capoeirista displayed amazing movements. The smoke grenade colors they choose also seemed to perfectly match their personalities and movements.
Overall I was definitely thrilled at the entire outcome of the shoot. Everything worked out perfectly. I would of course once again like to thank all of my friends and capoeiristas that showed up for the event and of course Payo with his phenomenal skateboarding skills. Everyone’s energy and willingness to try out new things definitely added to the overall atmosphere of the shoot. Well, that’s it for this shoot, stay tuned for the next set of Boundless Images!
For more capoeira images feel free to check out our previous capoeira shoot.
All of the Images from the shoot can be found in the Galleries below. There are approximately 50 Pics in each gallery.