Flawless Details Under Pressure

Have you ever seen that wildly energetic dance from the 40s, the Lindy Hop? How would you photograph a world record gathering of the most Lindy Hop dancers dancing in one place? To further complicate matters, what if that place were outdoors in front of Central Park’s famous Naumberg Bandshell?
Every face counts. Sheffield UK based photographer Jeremy Lawrence had a problem. To prevent accusations of cloning people in his photographs to falsely boost the head count to record setting numbers, Jeremy needed to clearly and precisely be able to photograph every dancer and identify each individual. The solution? Use the one device that can record the most detail, Phase One’s P 65+. To gain access to a P 65+ and also get digital support, Jeremy Lawrence reached out to Digital Transitions.

How do you freeze the action in an open park? Strobe light. Who can light it? Digital Transitions’ Mark Lawrence turned to Scheimpflug for help. Although Scheimpflug handles technical challenges like this all the time, the situation’s historic uniqueness intrigued Scheimpflug’s John Engstrom. John quickly agreed to make Jeremy’s ambitious photography project come to life.

Scheimpflug did far more than figuratively support Jeremy. Scheimpflug literally lifted Jeremy far above the crowd so that Jeremy could get the angle he desired. In addition to the custom truss arrangement designed to suspend Jeremy at any height he wanted, Scheimpflug arrived with over a dozen Profoto ProB packs and bi-tube heads and then strategically placed them on Hi Boy stands around the concert arena. Scheimpflug washed the dancers with even strobe light.

Oh yes, one more very important thing. Frankie Manning, the legendary Lindy Hop dancer and teaching giant just passed away. Dancers have flown in from many different countries to celebrate the life of dance icon Frankie Manning. This event is dedicated to his memory. You have only have one opportunity to get this shot; a gathering like this may never happen again. You may have a couple of precious frames at most. Everything has to work right the first time.

You begin to hear a marching swing band as they lead the dancers’ procession all the way from Manning’s memorial service to Central Park. Like an unstoppable flash flood, hundreds of people suddenly stream onto the bandshell’s open dance area. The crowd packs the huge space. Up on stage a swing band launches into a classic 40’s dance tune. Lively music blasting from loudspeakers draws people in from all directions. More and more people join the dancers and the joyful chaos.

Calmly, in his seat far above the crowd, Jeremy clicks away. Thanks to the Digital Transitions’ Phase One P 65+ with a 35mm Digitar lens mounted onto a Cambo WDS camera, every shot works. Each frame is dead on.

Bystanders gawk at the photographer hanging in the sky. People do not notice the Scheimpflug crew scurrying from pack to pack, or the tech group intensely monitoring Jeremy’s computer screen as previews rapidly pop up; the “Flug” crew silently insures everything stays on track.

They came. They danced. … and Jeremy got his P 65+ shot.

PS — Happy counting Jeremy.

The above shot shows a full frame of the action. Look way in the back. See those three tiny white shirts? The image below shows just that detail at 100%. Nice res, eh?

Learn more about Jeremy “Jez” Lawrence at www.futtfuttfuttphotography.com

Check out the impressive capabilities of Scheimpflug at www.scheimpflug.net

Direct questions and comments about the Phase One P 65+ toinfo@digitaltransitions.com.