Javelin thrower Kara Patterson training on the rings. Shot with a Canon 5d Mark II, Profoto 7b’s with beauty dishes and grid spot refelctors on a jet black seamless. (Photos by Donald Miralle for ESPN the Magazine)
Had a nice portrait shoot for ESPN the Magazine recently, spending four hours with the American-Record Holder javelin thrower Kara Patterson. She was a pleasure to shoot and we spent most of the time documenting her training she does on the gymnastic rings to strengthen her shoulders to hurl javelins over 200ft! Here are a couple shots from our session, hope you enjoy!
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Beautiful use of light, shadow, and line, particularly in the first shot; my favorite…looks like you’ve pulled off a great image again!
Thanks Anil! That first frame is a composite of three frames in a sequence of the same setup…glad you like them.
OK. Just between you, me, and everyone else reading this… Is that over-the-top sun star at the tip of the javelin all your creative framing or did you get at least a subconscious idea from somewhere? I can’t imagine a more perfect picture of nothing more than a person and a javelin. Now I can picture sun stars at the tips of footballs, bats, etc and I’m sure I’ve never seen it before. And then toss in a chopper just for good measure. Just too good. Also wondering if you played with the camera rotation to get the star streaks just right?
BTW. Do you often get the feeling that you were stealing when you got the 5DII?
Thanks for the flattering remarks Bill, and yes I felt like I was taking candy from a baby when I bought that 5D MII. It actually feels like I’m shooting velvia again sometimes when I shoot with it…