The Voorhes: How to Put a Still Aesthetic into Motion

Posted on February 12, 2019

After ten years of working together, the Voorhes have developed a unique and recognizable style. During this evolution, they explored the use of edge lights, reflection, and shadows with the use use of strobes and small crisp lights that are incredibly bright and allow them to shape the light, as well as capture the occasional explosion. But, as they’ve moved toward adding more live-action capabilities, their challenge has been how to create the same aesthetic in motion that they’ve developed in their still work.

But up until fairly recently, motion lighting was very different; the brighter a light, the bigger it was. Adam explains, “Initially, this made it almost impossible to recreate some of our still photography styles in motion. Fortunately, LEDs have come a long way in the past couple of years, and we began making our own custom lights. Then some great LED fresnel lights came on the market, and we’ve been able to modify them and mix them in with custom light to meet out needs.” There was a lot of testing and experimentation, but they’re now in a place where they can light a set with both still and motion lights and quickly switch between mediums.

When asked how their work might evolve in the next five to 10 years, Adam replied, “We always try to push in two directions…one being classic and the other contemporary. So, I’m hopeful that in a decade, our body of work will reflect Dutch still-life paintings and Irving Penn photographs, but will also be fresh and inventive. This comes through experimentation, embracing new technologies, and not being afraid to fail.”