Skateboarding: the story of one photo

Every photo is a work of art, every action photo is the art of the moment. In our new “In the Details” feature, iconic extreme photographers continue to reveal the magic of the non-random shot, as well as offering advice and help in choosing the right equipment for each shoot.

The photo, which we will look at today in our section “In details”, is the result of the work of a tandem of extreme photographer Daniil Kolodin and Red Bull team rider Maxim Kruglov.

Category: skateboarding

Photographer: Daniil Kolodin, superhero of Fun’Da’Mental agency, ambassador of F-Stop, Profoto, Manfrotto.

Place: Russia, Moscow, exit from the metro station “Strogino”.

On the photo: Max Kruglov. I didn’t choose the rider for this photo, it all came together somehow. Maksim and I have been working for quite a long time, almost all the time he has been in the RedBull team. I often meet him at summer and winter events, but that day I was just walking with my daughter. Max called me and told me there was a spot and a good idea for a photo. Alisa and I arrived in Strogino a few hours later and quickly did the job. I generally like working with Maxim, he is a strong, creative rider, we coincide with him in the approach to work, and he also likes to take difficult tricks from the first time.

When were the photos taken?

This photo was taken in the summer, in July. Skateboarding is mostly a summer sport. In winter, riders skate in indoor parks. In summer, as you can see from the photo, there are much more locations for skating and filming.

Technical side of the question

I use equipment of brands I cooperate with: Nikon cameras and lenses, F-Stop backpacks, ProFoto flashes, Manfrotto tripods and stands. There are definitely peculiarities to every shoot. This time I didn’t see the spot beforehand and didn’t know what exactly to be prepared for. When shooting skateboarding, I often like to use lights (external flashes) to highlight the rider or to accentuate the shot, so I took my ProFoto B1 with me. But this time I didn’t need it, because it would have been difficult and time-consuming to put the light on the roof. Besides, the day was sunny, and the roof Max was riding on reflected the light and illuminated his face perfectly.

The trick in the photo

Kick flip. This is one of the basic skateboarding tricks, but in this photo it’s more about where Max does it. That’s the difficulty of this particular kickflip for the rider and the spectacle of the photo. As such, I don’t have a favorite trick. I will say in general that skateboarding is not the easiest discipline to shoot. It’s quite a “fast” sport in terms of photography. You need to be able to catch the right moment, so that one photo shows the rotation of the board in several planes at once.

How to make a photo perfect. The right angle

The main mistakes are uncharged batteries and forgotten flash drives, usually(smile). Just kidding, I’ll try to point out a few, or rather, better even give a couple of tips on how to avoid these mistakes. Talk to the rider. Photography is your joint “product” with him, so discuss how you want to shoot and what the rider thinks about it. Prepare for the shoot. Look at your colleagues’ photos, what other photographers have shot before you. It’s important to be able to catch the right moment, the right phase of a trick, whether it’s skateboarding, snowboarding or another extreme sports discipline. Locations Check. Look at the place where you will be filming in advance, if possible. Then during the shooting it will be easier to orient yourself on the terrain, especially important if the shooting is done without permission, sometimes there is very little time.

Video lessons on action photography from Daniil Kolodin can be seen in our material.