Chris O’Connell Shoots 1/500s sequence

Written on Monday 14.06.2010 12:00 PM By: Red Bull Illume

Action sports photographer Chris O’Connell has successfully completed the first ever wireless synced flash sequence with a 1/500s shutter speed.

Chris photographed skiers sliding over a ski lift at Mountain High resort, and over a jump at June Mountain, both in California.

The shots were taken on a Canon Mark IV with Zeiss and Canon lenses. A Pocket Wizard TT5 was used for the synching and Broncolor Scoro A4S and A2S flashes powered by Honda EU series generators lit up the skiers over the obstacles.

“I ran into my friend Chase Jarvis who is a big commercial photographer while he was in New Zealand,” said Chris. “He's got a background in skiing and had the Broncolor packs and was shooting sequences like this at sunset, so I got the idea from him.

“He was shooting with a 1/250s shutter speed and flash sync cables. I really wanted to push it to 1/500s and have the freedom of shooting with a wireless sync. With the new Pocket Wizard TT5, I was able to use the hyper-sync settings and get it dialled.”

“It was a week long project with a ton of gear and logistical considerations. It was expensive and time consuming, but other than that the equipment performed and it went pretty well.”

Check the making of video on YouTube to see how it was done and the images for the results.

“I’ve had lots of feedback,” says Chris. “Action sports photographers are really stoked on this.”

Visit www.chrisoconnell.com for more information.