Peter Parker Would Love Parkour...

The art/sport/practice of Parkour is something that's been on my mental and visual radar for quite some time. And though my middle-aged body would never allow me to actually participate in the high-speed running, scrambles, and acrobatic leaps that parkour entails, my thoroughly middle-aged body is more than willing to watch other -- more younger-aged folks -- scramble about, run like the devil, and make (literal) leaps of faith while engaged in the practice.

This past week, the Portland, Oregon chapter/division/offshoot of David Hobby's Strobist group held a photographic meet-up in -- of all places -- Portland, and we (i.e.: members of the Portland Strobist Group... Two quasi-official websites can be seen here and here) spent the better part of a late afternoon and early evening photographing some of the local "traceurs" (those who engage in parkour) during a very informal "parkour jam" here in the downtown Portland area.

One of the great things about parkour (at least from an imagery perspective) is that it's an activity which photographs beautifully. Honestly, any sport or art which involves really fit young people making dramatic leaps, spiderman-like ascents up walls, and Olga Korbut-esque gymnastic maneuvers -- all with an urban environment as the visual backdrop -- is an activity which practically screams out its need to be photographed. From a technical point of view, it's also an activity which calls out for plenty of bright strobe lighting and/or rather quick shutter speed because, well, you're gonna' want to freeze the action somehow...

The photo that you see above and to the right is probably my favorite image from this past week's parkour/Strobist meet-up. It's also a good illustration of the need for both bright strobe lighting and/or a quick shutter speed when shooting any sort of parkour activity. The traceur (Alex) making the leap in this image is moving very quickly as he spans about six horizontal feet -- and jumps up at least two vertical feet -- in order to reach the opposing wall. Even with my strobes blasting away (two Vivitar 285s, 1/2 power and full power) and a shutter speed of 1/320th of a second, there's still a bit of motion blur to the shot. Nothing too objectionable I hope, but still enough to catch my eye.

As a brief technical/design aside, I ended up doing a bit of a Dave Hill Photoshop treatment to the above photo. Nothing too crazy, but a bit of large radius Unsharp Masking and some extra grain via the "Add Noise" function help to give the image an extra edge.

Aside from a slight bit of cropping, no extra Photoshop was involved with the image that you see to the left: a trio of traceurs just hanging out (literally) in the doorway of a local church. This was a really fun shot to make and take, though hopefully -- twenty years or so down the road -- none of the participants in this photo will ever run for public office. Just image what the press and pundits would do to a future politician should he (or she) ever engage in Parkour A Trois...

Technical note: Illuminated with a single Vivitar 285 at full power in a medium-sized Chimera Softbox. The light is just slightly above frame, about five feet away from the door, and aimed roughly at the middle of the door.



As I state in the title of this posting, Peter Parker would love Parkour... And in the shot that you see just to the right, a bit of a Spiderman homage is taking place as a local traceur (Stu?) climbs up the narrow passage between two buildings. This particular shot kinda' violates my rules about using bright strobes and fast shutter speeds when photographing parkour (In photography, rules are made to be broken), and I ended up using quite a slow shutter speed to capture the ambient lighting of the glass bricks (1/3rd of a second, handheld), along with a fairly dim and highly snooted strobe (Vivitar 285 at 1/16th power).

In retrospect, I kinda' wish that I'd tilted my camera so that Stu (?) would appear to be leaning out from a wall (which he actually was) rather than looking as though he were sitting in a pit -- which he most definitely was not.

Questions? Comments? Technical concerns? Do you practice Parkour in the Pacific Northwest and have a strong desire to be photographed? Give me a shout....

Matt