'Strictly Come Dancing' Made Simple

Regular readers of this blog will by now be aware of one of my 'tricks'

Keeping it simple

I was recently commissioned to photograph Ali Bastion and Brian Fortuna of The hit BBC programme 'Strictly Come Dancing'

You maybe aware there has been quite a lot of speculation regarding them in the press

To be quite honest with you I could not care less if they are or not other than to say they were both absolutely charming, lovely people, when I mentioned to Brian that my daughter Georgie, aged 7, was a big fan he wrote her a message, completely unprompted.

We were, as usual working with very limited time.

So, it was a matter of turning in a simple but impressive shot with the very minimum of fuss

The big danger is trying to be too ambitious and simply 'drowning' in a ton of gear that may or may not be useful in the circumstances.

The biggest single leap forward one can make with your art is to........

STOP BUYING ANYMORE EQUIPMENT UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR EXISTING EQUIPMENT DOES AND THEN MASTERING IT!

For this shot I used one light, an Elinchrom 1200 style, but with one killer light modifier an Elinchrom Mini Spot



This is an accessory I seldom use but when I do, it is fantastic

A simple solution, giving me the look and feel of the dance floor with a minimum of fuss, and a ton of showbiz 'sparkle' to boot

I shot this with my Phase One P45+ 80mm lens 125th Sec at F9

So a one light solution to what could have been a fraught scenario

It is always good to have an idea just what you are going to use BEFORE the assignment

I have added the Black and White version which I actually prefer, I think