Tomas Januska - Pushing the Edge of the Creative Envelope

Intro by Skip Cohen

I found this post in Profoto's blog archives and loved the way Rebecca Ahremark_ put it together. 

There's very little that beats a great behind the scenes video, especially when the subject is doing something contemporary and the photographer is demonstrating non-stop creativity.  Equally fun is seeing an artist push the edge of the envelope with off-camera flash.

In this post from Profoto's archives, artist, Tomas Januska wanted to add some special effects and used flour and color pigments to bring his downhill skateboaders into his world of creativity. It's a unique photo-shoot and the results speak for themselves.

Check out more of Tomas' work by visiting his website. Then, wander over to Profoto and check out the B1 and B2 systems. You'll also find incredible content in the Profoto blog with stories and how-to technique from some of the finest artists in imaging!

As you watch the video, think about what you might do in your own specialty to push the edge of the creative envelope.

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 by Rebecca Ahremark

Shooting downhill skaters is quite popular. But some photographers like to add a little extra to a shoot. Photographer Tomas Januska is one of them. For this shoot he decided to make it a little bit dirtier by adding flour and color pigments to the images.

Tomas has since the start of his photographic career been interested in dust and movement.

“At the beginning of my photography career, I was experimenting with dust, movement and people and by talking to friends who take part in skateboarding we decided to create some sort of photoshoot.”, he says.

“We decided to shoot skateboarders whilst they are riding down a hill, and during the time of the turn the downhill skateboarder will create a slide whilst having color pigments and dust incorporated within this moment in time, also capturing the actual movement of the downhill skateboarder with the skateboard.”
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Shooting downhill skaters getting 30 kg flour and 30 kg color pigments thrown at them could definitely be a challenge. But not for Tomas, who planned everything ahead. He also got help from the UK downhill skateboarders: Josh Monk, Kami San and Ras and the Productions Team, DigiToast.

So, how was he able to pull this off? He brought hisProfoto B1 equipped with a Zoom Reflector to the set and put the B1 on power setting 5.  His Nikon D800E captured a maximum of 5-6 images per second and he wanted to make sure he would be able to light up the skaters and at the same time get 5-6 well lit up images. He placed the B1 on a stand about 4-5 meters away from the object, on the opposite side of the road and had his team mates throw dust and color pigments while the skaters came rushing down the road.

“The B1 fully met my requirements for this photo shoot. The power, the mobility and speed.“, says Tomas.

“My aim with this shoot was to capture the technicality and unpredictability of the sliding movement, something that is also shown in races but differently. The moment when you see the final shot can blow you away with a freezing “arrow” of beauty”.

See more of Tomas images at his website. You can also find him at Facebook. 

You can also learn more about Profoto B1here.