Profoto recently connected two icons in their respective fields: Albert Watson, the portrait photography legend, and Sergei Polunin, the so-called “bad boy of ballet” and probably the only ballet dancer you could call “mainstream.” Together, they set about capturing some unique portraits, and filmmaker Eric Becker, the director of our own long-form video series, was there to document the process.
Watson’s work—which you can find in galleries and museums world-wide—spans a few genres. But the shots that define his career are his portraits… photographs of influential men and women that often look almost sculpture-like. If you’re interested at all in portrait photography, listening to Watson talk you through his light shaping process will be incredibly inspirational.
And if you’re a fan of high end lighting equipment well… you might just slobber all over your keyboard as you watch his assistants unpack a veritable army of Profoto Pro-10’s ($ 14,000 each) for this shoot.
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In the end, of course, Watson was less concerned with the gear than the portraits he was trying to capture with said gear. His process is a journey that he describes as, “not a distinct road to the final shot. You don’t know until you get there.”
And when he got there, this is what he captured: three photographs, one showing Sergei in flight, the other two described as “modern sculptures.”
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All in all, Profoto doesn’t miss the mark when they call the video above “a masterclass in light shaping.” Check it out for yourself, and then head over to the Profoto website to hear the story in their own words.
All photographs courtesy of Profoto
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)