The number of images uploaded to social media every day likely sits somewhere in the billions. But for extreme action photographer, Volodya Voronin, standing out among the noise is a challenge he approaches with planning, ingenuity – and sometimes duct tape.
Voronin’s portfolio, like many action photographers, is filled with shots of expertly timed photographs of athletes, but Voronin’s work isn’t just perfectly timed photographs. From a BMX rider framed inside a single water droplet to a skateboarder framed inside a light bulb, Voronin meshes action photography with creative composition, unusual foregrounds and artistic lighting.
Voronin, known as @actiongrapher on Instagram, believes a photograph should have both effort and a story behind it. “Cameras do almost everything for you – perfect autofocus, crazy frame rates, huge dynamic range, insane stabilization. And almost everyone now has a camera in a pocket,” he said.
“So, for me, just pressing a button and adjusting color grading in post isn’t satisfying any more. I’m always thinking about how I can create a shot that hasn’t been seen before. Or how I can highlight the athlete’s skills in an unusual style – where pressing the shutter is just the final step, not the core of the process.”
While much of Voronin’s work mixes the already challenging genre of extreme sports photography with unexpected foreground elements, his work isn’t the result of Photoshop composites or AI. Instead, the photographer aims to get it right in camera – when it’s safe to do so – using planning and unusual photography “ingredients.”
In his shot of a BMX rider framed within a single water, for example, Voronin taped blades of grass on a stand, used a syringe to add droplets of water, and shot at f/16 to get both the water and the athlete in focus.
“I could honestly be a duct tape ambassador,” the photographer jokes, noting that he has duct tape in every bag, often in several different types (like waterproof and double-sided) and multiple colors. Ropes, scissors, a knife and weights and cables are also often part of the photographer’s gear kit.
Lighting is as much a part of Voronin’s style as unusual compositions. In one viral shot, he used duct tape and water bottles to submerge a flash under the ice to highlight a skater.
In one of his most challenging shots, he used a ladder and a rope to position a light over the water, then headed underneath the water to capture a shot of an athlete and bike perfectly framed by blue water and light.
That particular photo, he says, took three different attempts, each time returning to the location with insight from the previous attempt and ideas on how to overcome those challenges.
While many of his shots took hours and even multiple days to get the shot right in camera, Voronin avoids extreme photo editing in his action photography. (Voronin’s commercial and branded projects may sometimes use heavier photo editing when needed, work that is separate from his action portfolio.)
Heavy compositing in a genre meant to show what an athlete is capable of feels dishonest, he says. Voronin uses photo editing to make color corrections and clean up small distractions like trash or graffiti.
Getting the shot in camera, however, is always balanced with the need to keep the athletes safe. Rarely, he’ll expand on elements like water splashes that are already in the core of the photo, only when continuing to push for the shot in-camera would jeopardize safety.
“For me, there is a balance. In my personal credo, I have two rules: never fake the athlete’s trick (don’t move or adjust their position) and never fake the environment. The core of the photo must always be real.”
Beyond the assortment of duct tape and safety tools like weights and cables, Voronin’s camera bag includes a Sony A9 III. His favorite lenses are primes like the Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM, 35mm f/1.4 GM, 50mm f/1.2 GM and 85mm f/1.4 GM II, but he’ll reach for the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II when he needs extra reach.
“I recently switched from the Sony A7 IV to the A9 III,” he said. “And all I can say is the A9 III is absolutely perfect for anyone working with flashes. I don’t so much care about autofocus or fps, it was already good in A7 IV, but the global shutter opens up possibilities that simply didn’t exist before.
“Now I’m just waiting for flash manufacturers to fully support global shutter, because right now making use of that potential can still be a bit time-consuming.”
The most time-consuming part of setting up the shot, Voronin says, is often getting the lighting right. Not because using flash itself is complicated, but because the light usually needs to end up in an unusual location, like up a tree or at the top of a bridge. He’s even swam lights out to an island, in the dark, for a sunrise cliff jump shoot.
“Don’t be afraid to grab a flash and start experimenting,” he says. “I see many people avoid flashes because they think it’s too complicated. It’s really not. Just get the cheapest on-camera flash and a trigger (to fire the flash remotely), then play around.
“After a couple of weeks, the fear will be gone, and you’ll see the huge creative potential that flashes can unlock for you. And don’t forget that the sun is quite a powerful light, so you can always use it as a second one.”
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