STORY BEHIND THE STILL
Philip Platzer’s dizzying winning image from the recent Red Bull Illume contest
PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME: Philip Platzer PHOTOGRAPHER’S WEBSITE: philip-platzer.com IMAGE LOCATION: Fromberg, Austria
TYPE OF COMMISSION: Assignment
SHOT DETAILS: Nikon D4S, Nikkor 16mm Fisheye, 1/2000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320
ABOUT THE SHOT: There are certain images where it’s impossible to decode the shooting process behind them, regardless of how long they are studied. How did the photographer manage to achieve the exposure? How on Earth (or in this case, in the air) did they find a way of shooting the frame from that perspective? Philip Platzer’s award-winning shot of an aerial athlete performing a hair-raising swing between two hot air balloons is a great example.
“Together with the Red Bull Skydive Team I did this crazy project called ‘Megaswing’ back in 2016,” explains Philip. “[straight away] I already knew this was a tricky one: two hot air balloons, one with a long rope attached and the other one to jump out [of] with the ‘swing’ and of course the skydiver with his parachute.”
When faced with a scenario as technically challenging as this it can be easy to forget the basic photographic elements of composition, without which a shot will still fail, despite the dramatic conditions. Philip had to recognise the framing challenges and devise a way of creating the maximum visual impact.
“After the first couple of jumps I realised that I wouldn’t get the perfect shot by simply shooting from inside the basket that they were jumping out of. Luckily, I had my monopod in the car as well as a pair of radio triggers. My solution to get the right angle was to hold the camera – which I had attached to my monopod – deep under the basket and hope to get the perfect framing. I asked the athlete Marco Fürst to turn a little bit towards my direction, to avoid getting an ass shot and to get this playful mood in the image. In the end it was the very last try that gave us the ‘moneyshot’.”