#BTS Behind the Scenes | Volleyball Sports Photography | Red Bull Intracoastal Beach Affair

Red Bull Intracoastal Beach Affair

The Importance of "Bringing Everything" ... and that too... just in case.

Joana Heidrich showing off the proper curve of the jump serve during the Red Bull Intracoastal Beach Affair with the Beach Major Volleyball Series.

A few weeks back Bradlee Rutledge and I headed down to Fort Lauderdale, FL to shoot a promotional media release for the Beach Major Series and Red Bull.  We were set to shoot the Red Bull Swiss Olympic team of Anouk Verge-Depre | Joana Heidrich and USA based team of Casey Patterson | Stafford Slick.  The overall idea of the series was to show the athletes playing on a private beach volleyball court along the intracoastal waters Fort Lauderdale is known for.

Joana Heidrich contemplating if this will be the last "one more" while serving  up jump serves  of the crew.

As per usual Red Bull fashion we gad to create a few story telling images of the event as well as a few athlete profile images and portraits for Red Bull Content Pool.  The day was suppose to be sunny and cloud free as usual for the coastal city.  With the more natural look in mind I packed up all my reflectors and shiny boards to shot sequences with a evenly natural lit look.  I ended up packing a few Elinchrome battery packs with the Indirect Octa modifier for the portraits and lifestyle images.   At the last minute I decided to Bring 4 of the Elinchrom ELC Pro HD's just in case the sun would be in the wrong spot for the sequences.

The main action images of Joana Heidrich, Anouk Verge-Depre, Stafford Slick, and Casey Patterson.

A very long story short we ended up with almost no boats on the water in the background including the pre set up sail boat teams due to "severe weather."  We were completely surrounded by the usual black afternoon thunderstorms for almost the entire time, except of the little blue patch that you see in every photo.  The court ended up being completely lit by the Elinchrom ELC Pro HDs as far away and high as I could put them for the natural lighting look.   The ELC's were powered by Honda EU200's spoke they could recycle for the strobe sequences.  We also ended up setting up another location with the Elinchrom Ranger inside of the Indirect light bank for the lifestyles.  I left the set up the entire time so we could bounce back and forth with each athlete as the father changed and keep a constant look for all of them.

The Gear:

Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 1000s

Elinchrom PLus HS Transmitters    

Elinchrom Ranger Speed AS with S Heads

Elinchrom LiteMotive Indirect Octabank

Elinchrom Sport Reflectors

Kupo C-stands

Induro Tripod for the Sequences and PhaseOne images

PhaseOne Camera System

Nikon Camera Systems

Chris Garrison lounging while Casey Patterson gets his social on of Stafford Slick.  Also a BTS of the gear used. 

The shoot was amazingly fun and a great experience playing some volleyball on the Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal water way.  Of course we had to do the image selection and immediate media release with or without "Man Margs" at the goto Rocco's Tacos on Las Olas!  

NO FLEX ZONE with Casey Patterson and Stafford Slick

Check out a few of the select images/BTS video also at THIS LINK created by the Beach Major Series from the shoot below and always remember the importance of .. "if you think you may want it, just go ahead and bring it, plus an extra!"

BTS video and Link to Video in HD HERE

Joana Heidrich fully extending for the boys

Casey Patterson ... Who did it better?

Stafford Slick ... Who did it better?

Casey Patterson setting on cup for his new sunglasses adverting campaign

Anouk Verge-Depre warming up with Joana Heidrich 

Stafford Slick warming up

Stafford Slick and Casey Patterson contemplating their next social post

Rules of beach volley ball, who hits the ball in must go get the ball, unless the locals come save the day

Locals showing Casey Patterson prop serving form 

Anouk Verge-Depre showing the boys how to crank one down the line 

Joana Heidrich sendung singles to the captain to swoop her up

Chris Garrison and Casey Patterson talking swing form training for the Beach Major  Series 

Chris Garrison Laying down on the job one more time