Into the Wild of Wales with Lifestyle Photographer Finn Beales and the Profoto B2 [RF Video of the Week]

We’ve written about the Profoto B2 before—it was included in our product roundup of best portable pieces of lighting gear, we took an in-depth look into the B2 in a hands-on review, it was our Editor’s Choice for lighting gear in our October Buyer’s Guide, and Charleton Churchill even mentioned it in the story he wrote for us about adventure wedding photography (when he was on Everest during the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, no less). But actually getting to see it packed up and taken on the road (or river), into the wilderness and used in a production shoot is a new one.

Profoto reached out to Finn Beales, someone who “enjoys nature and likes to shoot in the wild,” he says. The Wales-based photographer and director also has an incredibly strong portfolio of outdoor and lifestyle imagery, and 500k+ followers on Instagram, which doesn’t hurt.

“It’s surprising how much goes into a shoot such as this,” says Beales, who ventured around the wilds of the Black Mountains in Wales for the shoot. “From developing the initial creative, to the production of the campaign (sourcing the right car—a Land Rover in this case—canoes, casting for models, organizing breakfast, lunch and dinner for talent and crew when you’re in the middle of the wilderness) all takes planning!”

Even with careful planning ahead of time there are always obstacles that pop up during the shoot. The Profoto team wasn’t actually there for the shoot since they needed to “keep the footprint on set as small as possible due to the fast-paced nature of the shoot,” Beales explains. “However, I needed to get selects over to their marketing team for feedback throughout the day. We tethered an iPhone to a Mac, which allowed us to send through low-res selects via DropBox for comment at regular intervals. The wonders of technology.”

It’s a small part of the actual video but it’s fascinating to see how much Beales could pack with him compactly; besides the B2 Off-Camera Flash, he took with him a 1 x 3-foot OCF Softbox as well as the 2 x 3-foot size, two OCF Speedrings, the Umbrella Deep Silver S and the Air Remote TTL-C. Believe it or not, he had no assistant with him. Check out how the final video came out:

Check out more Videos of the Week, and email Libby Peterson with submissions.