Since I was given the chance to play with the Elinchrom ELC 1000 heads to test last year, I’ve become a little bit obsessed with the concept of the moving image. The Delayed and Strobo modes that now come as standard in both the ELC and the ELB 400 heads are nothing new to the world of photography – I’ve played around with both over the year by hacking the technique with cheap triggers and guesswork. Having the technology built in to my existing lights as well as guaranteed results at the click of a few simple buttons has definitely made these techniques more accessible. In fact, I will often bring out a touch of one or the other at the end of a shoot, just to try out a different combination of moving image settings to see what works in different ambient lighting scenarios and with varying degrees of movement.

These images of Aurora Galore were taken back in March 2015, when I first got my ELB 400’s and was testing out the features on the slightly less powerful – but definitely far more portable – heads. Having spent years working on making everything as sharp as possible, it was great fun to let loose and try something with a little less rigidity. At the time, my main focus was showing off the high contrast black and white images we shot that day as well, but these have been quietly tucked away in my archives and each time I look at them I grow to love them a little bit more! I think its the texture of the hundreds of strands of beads and how well they capture within the shot, as well as the mix of purple and gold tones throughout the series. I’m sure more examples will appear on the blog over the next few months as I keep practising with this technique.