Golden Greats -By Drew Gardner and Lucinda Marland
I posted a portrait shot on my Phase One DF with a P65+ back.
That was part of a project Lucinda and I have been shooting for the past two years.
Titled 'Golden Greats'
We have photographed every senior British Olympic Gold medalist (Individual) it has taken us all over the world and occasionally pushed us to the limit of physical endurance as you will see....
The idea behind the project was to celebrate the often overlooked if not forgotten sporting heritage of Great Britain, of sometimes towering sporting achievements from a different generation.
The media with its obsession with youth often fails to pose the question of 'How did we get here?'
The first portrait I'm posting is of Allan Wells who won Gold in the 100m at the 1980 Moscow games.
He won in lane 8 by getting a greater proportion of his head over the finishing line than the runner who came second....it was that close.
A friendly and affable bloke, Allan gave us some time to shoot this portrait.
We shot it on the Phase One DF P65+ with a Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm at f/2.8 1/200 sec, rated at 50 ISO.
If you want an idea of the detail this delivers check out this screen grab of his truing shoe and the 5p coin I used to position him
Getting medium format sharp wide open is, shall we say a challenge...it can be so hard that you can think the picture out of focus.
But the rewards are worth it .....
Shooting straight into the light just to make the task in hand even more difficult...and the angels sing.
Lit with Elinchrom Ranger 1200, with a Chimera Medium soft box, on a Manfrotto stacker stand.
I will be posting extensively about this projection the run up to the exhibition which starts on 5th March in the Stadium Suite of John Lewis at the Westfield centre, Stratford.
Manfrotto are sponsoring the show and I will be speaking about this project and much more besides at 'Focus' on Imaging'
I'm printing the show right now on Canon IPF printers, with their latest and greatest media.
God knows how I have time to post this...have to dash