Swim Portraits

As part of a two person staff now, my shift is nights during the week. This week I've had two swim portraits to shoot of h.s. swimmers who will be competing at state. I wish I could shoot them in whatever pool SI uses, it must be filled with magic water. Their swimming portraits always look so cool.

The first one was on Tuesday of a sophomore, Julia Walters, who swims for a school in another county. I wasn't positive what I was going to do for the photo, none of the pools around here are really all that cool at first glance. That's what strobes are for I guess.

Sophomore Julia Walters will be competing at state
in the 100-yard freestyle.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2009

I set up a Dyna-Lite in the background, thinking I would place the swimmer at the end of the pool, sitting on one of the starting blocks. I put the Dyna-Lite in the background, clamped to a railing on the side of the pool knowing I wanted to use it to light up the ropes dividing the lanes.

I shot a couple test shots without the swimmer and where I was going to place the swimmer on the block, the Dyan-Lite didn't help give the pop of color I was looking for. Time to change plans.

While fooling around tho, i realized where I had the light set up would work well if I wanted to pose her in the water and get the ropes behind her for a little color. When she came out I did some shots of her sitting on the block, then had her get into the pool.

I don't have much in the way of light modifiers for the Dyna-Lites. Actually, even that is probably overstating it. I don't have anything, the only thing I've got are the standard reflectors that came with them. Couple months ago tho, I bought a roll of cinefoil in Indianapolis. For those that don't know, cinefoil is basically heavy gauge aluminum foil that is coated with black paint.

I had looked at prices for good barn doors.... and almost fell over. Most barn doors are $75, and thats just a starting price. Some are $100 or more. Ridiculous I say. I wrapped some cardboard with the cinefoil and used trusty gaffers tape to secure the seams. I bent coat hangers and attached that to both doors as a sort of handle. Using some black binder clips like one finds at an office supply store I can clip the doors to the reflector of the Dyna-Lite, creating a narrow slit of light which allows me to focus it a little more. It's not pretty, but it works.

I was working on the photos back at the office when my boss came in. The first thing he said wasn't, "hey, interesting photo" or "way to work it." No, it was "hey, she looks she doesn't have a swimsuit on." Huh? Uh, she is a swimmer. He was positive this photo, or any of the ones I had from the shoot, would not run because there wasn't a swimsuit showing. It bugged me for most of the rest of the day, it was a good photo, so what if her suit isn't showing? I could understand the argument if I had a photo of a softball player where a uniform couldn't be seen, but a swimmer?

So I get to Thursday. Another portrait of a swimmer, at a different school, this one in Kokomo. I was at the pool, setting up my strobes, going with the Nikons' this time instead of the Dyna-Lites. Variety is the spice of life right?

The swimmer was on the side of the pool waiting for me as I got the strobes set. One of the coaches for the team came over. "Are you with the Tribune?" Yes. "Is your name Erik?" Yes. "You shot the photo of my daughter the other day in the pool. I love it!! it was awesome, how did you manage to get the reflection like that?"

The mom is a coach of the swim team for the school I was at on Thursday, but her daughter attends the school I was at on Tuesday. And she loved the photo, had no problems with it in the least. Wants copies of it, thinks it's fabulous, wishes her daughter had told her that she was having her photo taken; etc, etc.

Vindication.

Now as to the current photo. Brittany Gauger is heading to state to compete in diving. So of course, it might be good to get a board into the photo. They've got a low board which is what the students use to compete from. But, I decided to use the higher board, as it had the better background.

Brittany Gauger will be heading to state to compete in diving.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2009

I set the background light on one of the lower diving boards pointed up towards the wall. Played around with the intensity and amount of zoom until I found something that worked. The light on her is to the right of the frame, down on the pool deck shooting up at her, with a snoot made out of corrugated plastic board. Anyone interested can find out more about snoots at Strobist.

I played around a little with this, having her sit on the board with her feet dangling off, but I decided this looked a little more natural and relaxed. Wildkats is the nickname for the school's athletic teams.

These assignments reminded me of something it's taken me a long time to learn, and still occasionally forget. Don't let anyone else get inside your head. Advice and criticism from others can be helpful, and sometimes it's necessary. One has to learn how to accept it willingly and not be hurt if someone says something not totally positive about a photographer's work.

But... After a decade of shooting, I realized that letting other people get inside my head when I'm working on an assignment is what prevented me from getting really good photos. It's what tells a photographer not to shoot this photo or that angle, because a boss or client or a reader isn't going to like the photo.

Photosynthesis by Bryan Moss and The Great Picture Hunt 2 by Dave LaBelle are two great books to help photographers, particularly photojournalists, understand this. Most photojournalists with a few years under their belt have one or both of these on their bookshelf. If you don't already I highly recommend buying them. No matter how long one takes part in photography, the well of inspiration occasionally runs dry. These books can help fill it up again.

Listening to that little voice inside is what can keep you from stepping off the curb right in front of a Greyhound bus. But it's also what can keep you from being more creative than you thought possible or were allowed to be.

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