The Battle of The Giants is the name of the South African Freestyle Dance Championships. The competition is held at Sun City every year, and for four years running I owned the rights to the event photography for it. It involved a mad rush of 20-hour days, RSI on the trigger finger, and trying to manage a team of photographers, editors and printers.
The last year we took 80,000 frames in 3 days and used some 65 printer cartridges. Although we use hot shoe flashes in the indoor arena, we mainly use them for fill and use the high ISO capacity of the 5D Mark II’s for the rest.
Of all the years I ran the project, this is my favourite shot. I absolutely love the energy in the jump of the girl in the background and the seemingly effortless flight of the lady in white. The timing of both dancers and photographer (that would be me) could not have been better, and the absolute clarity of the image astonishes me to this day.
Canon Eos 5D Mark II, 70 – 200 F2.8 IS L, 70mm, F4, 1/250th, ISO 6 400
David du Plessis
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