Bodies in Motion
Howard Schatz
Anna Goldstein, Tennis Coach: The image of the tennis player was made as part of an advertising campaign for Gatorade. I used a very fast, multiple stroboscopic effect with the light firing off every one-hundredth of a second. The goal was to show the flow of the movement of a tennis player and racket, with some movement of the camera.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Acclaimed photographer Howard Schatz shares his method for capturing these athletes on the move.
My goal in studying human motion is to capture the flow of the components which make up the perfect pitch, the perfect golf swing, the perfect catch, etc. Some of the images in this series were made for my book, Athlete, published in 2002 by HarperCollins, but my ongoing fascination with the human body and its physical capabilities has led me to explore movement in an enormous range of activities. A wide range of images can be seen on my website in the Action section of the Portfolio.
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David Beckham: This shot was made for Sports Illustrated magazine. The idea was to create an image that shows Beckham “bending it.” I used a very complicated set of lights to follow and track his running — using a soccer player to rehearse this for a day and a half prior to the shoot — and used multiple lights as a multiple stroboscopic effect.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Anna Goldstein, Tennis Coach: The image of the tennis player was made as part of an advertising campaign for Gatorade. I used a very fast, multiple stroboscopic effect with the light firing off every one-hundredth of a second. The goal was to show the flow of the movement of a tennis player and racket, with some movement of the camera.
Photo by Howard Schatz
David Beckham: This shot was made for Sports Illustrated magazine. The idea was to create an image that shows Beckham “bending it.” I used a very complicated set of lights to follow and track his running — using a soccer player to rehearse this for a day and a half prior to the shoot — and used multiple lights as a multiple stroboscopic effect.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Tiki Barber, New York Giants: Tiki Barber, now retired, was still playing with the Giants when I photographed him catching a football in my studio. I had him run and jump to catch a football thrown too high. We had rigged a crash pad for him at the end of his leap.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Luke Donald for Ralph Lauren RLX: This image of English professional golfer Luke Donald was part of an advertising campaign for the Ralph Lauren RLX golf clothing line. I put a light on the club to show the path of the swing of the club.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Fashion Model for L’Uomo Vogue Fashion Story: This photo was part of a sports fashion editorial for L’Uomo Vogue magazine. I used a strobe at the beginning of her jump and at the end of her jump with ambient light “painting” the image between the two flashes.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Omar Thomas, Competition Hip-Hop Dancer: This is an image of dancer/gymnast Omar Thomas doing a back flip using a multiple stroboscopic effect.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Johan Santana, New York Mets: This shot of Johan Santana, pitcher for the New York Mets, was made for New York magazine. I put a light in his hand to show the movement of his hand when pitching a baseball. I used a strobe at the beginning and at the end and the light simply painted across the image to create the streak of light.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Ray Allen, Boston Celtics: This image was one of the original series of movement studies which I created for my book, Athlete. For this shot of Ray Allen, basketball player for the Boston Celtics, I used a multiple stroboscopic effect to show him coming down the court jumping and eventually passing.
Photo by Howard Schatz
Michael Olajide Jr.: This image of a middleweight boxer, Michael Olajide Jr., jumping rope was done with a similar stroboscopic effect. I moved the camera because the person jumping rope was just jumping straight up and down, but in order to get movement across the image, I moved the camera. The idea was to create a graphic design with his rope.
Photo by Howard Schatz