Nope, not an encounter with Jack Nicholson and his pet axe in a remote hotel - a shoot with England rugby superstar Jonny Wilkinson. The World Cup is nearly upon us again so what better way to commemorate that drop-kick that earned us victory over the Aussies than a shot of the man himself.
Commissioned by Getty Images for the NSPCC this shoot was part of the full-stop campaign. Jonny is supporter of the NSPCC and so we had him wear an NSPCC shirt and the agency had provided a green NSPCC coloured ball.
The shoot took place at the Newcastle Falcons’ ground up in Newcastle. Various shots were required of Jonny kicking the ball, i.e. it actually
leaving his foot. I was using off camera flash (to get the power I needed to balance the daylight) that only recycled once a second so each kick was a separate frame. At this point I’d like to thank “Kate” (name withheld to protect the innocent) from the agency who had travelled up by train from London with the props. She was a real trooper and great at fetching the ball every time Jonny launched one into the ionosphere …..
At the end of the session I wanted to get Jonny in his famous pre-kicking stance. The sky had clouded over and so I lit it hard to add some drama. This is my favourite from the session.
You can see a larger version of the final in the “people” gallery on my website portfolio
Until later…..
J
