Same Sport, Different Styles

I’ve shot fencing before, but not at the Olympic level. So, when Sports Illustrated sent me to the fencing venue the other day I tried a bit of a spin by doing an in camera, five exposure multiple, the mechanics of which are relatively simple in the D5. (Used to be much more difficult. You’d have to factor gain in your head, and it was a very iffy business indeed. Now the camera not only does the math for you, it gives you options to up the exposure, average it, or darken it. Wild.

Also very lucky. The motion here worked. Trust me, I’ve got about 200 or so awful frames that remind me how lucky this one is.

The only fencer I’ve known well is my dear friend Sharon Monplaisir, a three time Olympian who I photographed in the studio a number of times. Below was for an Olympic nude project done for LIFE in ’96. Shot with lots of flash power, on medium format and 8×10 black and white.

Then again, in the studio, looking high key, fierce and magnificent.

And then with small flash.

She is a dear friend, and a wonderful presence in front of the camera.

Same sport, just different approaches.

More tk from Rio….