Poi, oh poi!

Last week while in Raleigh, NC I had another chance to shoot one of my favorite performers, Irene Henriette.  I had shot her and Mindy Reeves last summer outside under a bridge, so I was excited to see what kind of images I could get in a warehouse environment.


My setup was pretty basic.  I just wanted try to create some ambience using gelled strobes to highlight the interior and create a mood.  I had originally planned on using a softbox to freeze the action, but decided on the bare strobes.  I like the hard edge that it give the shadows.


Irene is a talented artist.  She as been performing with Poi for years.  During this shoot she used an LED hoop and LED and Fire Poi.  It takes a lot for coordination to maintain the Poi and Hoop's rhythm while making it look beautiful at the same time.


The LED Poi shots were great.  I set the exposure at 1 or 1.5 sec and shot away.  The great thing about the Poi is that they don't shed any light on the performer.  She can spin away and leave a nice light trail and when the strobe fires her is image is frozen.  Fire, on the other hand is totally the opposite.


Flames inside a building reflect off of everything and light the performer.  And they are hot and variable and moving.  It is hard to get an exposure where the flames are not overexposed and you don't have time to say, "Wait, can we try that again."  You have to go with the flow and I was constantly adjusting my exposure and aperture.  The burn time is a few minutes and towards the end of the burn I got the best images. 

Shooting fire performers is an awesome experience and I learn a lot with each session.  I learned that next time I will do a better job of hiding the light stand or using a black one.  I thought about photoshopping it out, but it kind of adds to the environment.  And I bet you didn't really notice it until I mentioned it.