Rapier Dancing

Yesterday Homerton College’s orchard was graced by Bea Svistunenko and Robbie Taylor Hunt, smartly dressed and armed with rapiers. We were there to do a fight photo shoot in the sunset, but a cloudy sky meant our epic plans took on a different tone, sometimes sillier, sometimes moodier. Laughs and tears.

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I would not have thought that trees and swords would make such a striking combination. This and the banner photo has a Don Quixote feeling to it.
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Ambush!
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This is just priceless!
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I wanted to get a feel of perspective depth in the photos. Also, to get the sense of motion Robbie and Bea alternated between doing a choreographed sword dance, and repeating the same motion over and over.
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Don Quixote?
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I was circling around on the ground, to see how the patterns of branches changed. Bea was in high-heeled boots, not sure how she managed to keep her balance.

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Coy!
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A portrait of Robbie, while we waited for Bea to get the tears ready.

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It was great fun, and I especially liked the silly photos. It was quite tricky to figure out the best angle for the action shots, so we did lots of repetitions. Ideally you want a fairly clean background to show off their poses and facial expressions. We got a lot of funny faces and hair flying. As it got darker I increased the ISO and the aperture, and you can see in the later shots that the depth of field is narrower. Many thanks to Bea and Robbie for the great evening!

– Johannes

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