Bright Hot Light

Picture the scene: an intensely hot day at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah with an azure, almost cloudless sky and onlookers wearing two pairs of sunglasses to protect themselves from the potentially eye-damaging glare. To most people’s astonishment, a photographer starts erecting lights. “People were looking at me like I was mad,” says U.K.-based photographer Adam Duckworth who describes himself as “the go-to guy when you want a picture of someone with a bike or a car.”

Duckworth had always wanted to shoot at Bonneville and went there to satisfy a personal craving, though he did end up selling some pictures to one of his regular outlets.

“I love so much about America. The diversity of terrain is amazing, the spaces are amazing and there are some really interesting people,” he says. “At Bonneville everyone was shooting the same pictures and I thought I needed to do something different. So I decided to go back to doing what I do best.”

His Bonneville pictures bear Duckworth’s trademark. “My style is bright colors and dramatic lighting. I’m a smack-you-in-the face, hard lighting photographer. I’m at my happiest on a sunny day with a blue sky, an amazing background, somebody cool to photograph and loads of powerful lights to sculpt light with and make it look dramatic.”

Duckworth fell into photography at an early age—literally. He was racing motorbikes at motocross events when he was 11 and crashed, breaking his left arm and right wrist. His parents did not want him to continue racing and encouraged him instead to take pictures of riders.

When his sister went on vacation to California she met an American and married him, Duckworth went with his family to meet their new relative. There, he cycled to a motorbike shop where the owner was friends with Jody Weisel, Editor of Motocross Action magazine, which Duckworth read thoroughly each month. Weisel invited Duckworth to go to race meetings and on photo shoots, stimulating the young shooter’s desire to be a photographer. Weisel is still the Editor 32 years later and the two are still in contact.

With no formal training, Duckworth picked up studio lighting techniques and printing from an industrial company’s photographic department where his mother worked. He also read magazines like Practical Photography and Amateur Photographer.

Upon leaving university, Duckworth, who had already started freelancing for English magazine Motocross Rider, got on a plane bound for Orange, CA. Although he worked for Jody Weisel for seven months he did not earn enough to make a living and returned to the U.K.

Motocross Rider soon offered Duckworth a full-time job. Meanwhile he worked for other magazines in the same group—all of which led to his writing articles and becoming a photojournalist. “That really worked for me because there are a lot of people who can take pictures and there are a lot of people who can write, but to do both at a decent level was reasonably rare.”

Another dream job presented itself when Duckworth moved to Motorcycle News—at the time, the world’s biggest motorcycle publication. Promotions soon followed and he eventually became publishing director, and his photography went by the wayside.

“I became a suit,” he says. “I got to the point about four years ago when I was just commuting to London and I thought ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ So I left to set myself up full time as a photographer again.
“I’ve worked as a staff and freelance photographer; I’ve worked on consumer, specialist and lifestyle magazines; I’ve worked for agencies and I’ve got a good grounding in how magazine editorial works from all sides. So when I went freelance again I came into the market with a different view of things and a more businesslike, strategic view,” he shares.

While Duckworth now has his own studio at his home in Northamptonshire, England, most of his work is done on location. “I’m happier outdoors on a bright, nuclear sunny day that most other photographers hate because of the contrast.”

His work was recognized in 2008 when he was named the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers’ Commercial Photographer of the Year. He also won a Canon-sponsored photographic award, exhibiting his winning entry in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

Although known for his images of bikes and cars, Duckworth also enjoys shooting people, citing Ansel Adams and Bob Carlos Clarke as his biggest influences.

“I was shooting motorbikes mainly for work, but I really liked doing people pictures,” he says. Last year, car giant McLaren, which was unveiling a new car, commissioned him for a shoot. While another photographer got the car shots, Duckworth photographed executive chairman Ron Dennis.

 “I just love taking pictures,” he says. “You always have to remind yourself that you’re getting paid to take pictures for a living. It can’t be bad, can it?”

As for gear, Duckworth calls himself “Captain Kit King.” He shoots medium format on a Phase One 645DF with a series of Schneider Kreuznach LS leaf- shutter lenses. “The thing for me is that they sync flash up to 1/1600 of a second. There’s nothing else that will do that. It’s an advantage for me because that lets you capture action at a higher speed than anybody else can and lets you control depth of field more accurately. I went the Phase (rather than the Hasselblad) route because of that.”

He continues, “I’d like to believe it’s my kit that gives me an edge. I don’t really know whether it’s perceived by clients but it keeps me happy!”

Duckworth started shooting medium format when one of his clients, another car magazine, preferred its quality. “For the first time ever, I was asked if I used medium format and I was in. I don’t think I had ever used it on an action shoot for a magazine before but no one noticed. It’s great to work with a magazine that values what you do,” he says.

Beyond that, Duckworth prefers Nikon 35mm DSLRs and loves the D3S—although he bought a Canon 5D Mark II to do video work, which is becoming an increasingly important part of his portfolio.

Still, he says lighting is his major expense. Duckworth uses Elinchrom 600RXs and a 1200RX in his studio along with Elinchrom and Chimera softboxes.

“A lot of people use soft light a lot as it’s very flattering and easy to use. But for me, if you use harder light or more sculpted, controlled, directional light you get more dramatic pictures.”

Duckworth also uses Elinchrom outdoors and believes the battery-powered Elinchrom Ranger Quadras have transformed photography. “I used to have to take massive cases of Rangers. Now I’ve got one big bag with four Quadra packs in it and four heads. The power is brilliant and they’ve been absolutely reliable.

Currently, Duckworth’s clients include ad agencies and magazines. He is Editorial Director of MOTO Magazine, part of the Factory Media group, “Europe’s largest action-sports media owner.” He is also involved with a hotel-management company, shooting lifestyle pictures of quality London apartments.

Duckworth, who also runs training courses in the U.K., offers this advice to anyone looking to emulate his success: “Photographers who want to get regular work in magazines can’t simply send in examples and say, ‘Here are some pretty pictures.’ You have to look at it like an editor and think about the story first, then the pictures to go with it.”

Steve Orme is a freelance writer and broadcaster living in central England. He works in television as a writer, producer and director, and has worked extensively with British company, The Flash Centre, on DVDs and Internet films demonstrating lighting products and techniques.