Photographer Benjamin Von Wong, never one to shy away from extreme conditions to get a shot, has released a new set of images and behind the scenes information from his most recent shoot among the lava flows of Hawaii's Big Island. Setting out at midnight, he and his crew trekked several miles through rough terrain to reach the glowing lava, where they set up to capture a model backlit with a battery-powered monolight. Using a Sony a7R II and FE 16-35mm F4, Von Wong worked quickly – the intense temperatures meant his model could only stand in position near the lava for very short periods of time.
You can see some of the resulting images above. For more behind-the-scenes info, head to Von Wong's blog. Images from the shoot are for sale, with profits benefiting victims of Hurricane Matthew.
Here is the post : "My next project will be a Transvestite having a transhuman/animal hybride baby in a sea of molten lava during a monsoon in Hawaii as the sun is rising creating a rainbow of color not seen by the human eye... Try and beat that, Benjamin."
Of course my post was in gest, but you sure did try to "beat that"... Ironically, in the exact same place. Do you need another photo project? Hahahaha to funny.
On a serious note, if my post was the feotus for this project Mr Wong, credit is due.
You are pushing this climat change sob story now? Blaming climate change for Hurricane Matthew!? Jeez https://lavaforchange.smugmug.com/
in case you didn't click play and watch till the end...100% of sales proceeds go towards victims of Hurricane Matthew, wow that's pretty impressive. Good on you Ben Von Wong!
Ben is a great photographer who creates beautiful images and is doing things that I (random internet person) could never do. I appreciate his commitment to social change and helping other people.
With that said, I feel like the concept of native peoples being adversely affected by climate change gets a bit lost here: in spite of the 'indigenous' person standing in the middle of a burning hot lava flow, he seems powerful and in control (impressive feat by the model), like he belongs there, not precarious and vulnerable- which would seem more in keeping with the intended concept.
Either way, cool looking images. Great work under extreme conditions.
What is his Liability insurance premium? He's flirting with getting someone maimed or killed - just so he can get a photo. Stupidity, vanity and greed. I suppose when a model slips or a lava tube crumbles he'll want to market the images of the model dying?
I'm not so stupid as to play russian roulette at parties. This guy is going to get someone killed or seriously injured - not to mention getting Park Service personnel seriously pis-sed when they have to try and help those hurt when he screws up. He's dumber than a Chia pet rancher.
Amazing work! All the critics should take a step back. I would love to see better pictures, with a better message and more altruistic intentions taken under the same conditions. Von Wong goes beyond taking pretty images. His work is inspiring and raises questions and awareness. If you are criticizing, please show us a better way to do it. If you haven't done better your critic is just winning or jealousy.
No, no jealousy. Just a realization the guy is an idiot endangering others for the sake of a photograph. Selfish, short sighted and stupid. Probably greedy as well. Dumber than Michael Fatali.
I'm surprised the whole bunch didn't end up in jail for that, it's illegal to be there. (Not to mention that native Hawaiians don't approve of anybody foolin' around on Madam Pele's turf. It's kapu, and simply being there shows little regard or respect for the culture. Do that in Alaska or in some other volcanic zone!)
I went to the website of the park and I didn't find any rule that prohibits people of going to this place and take photographs. Please illustrate. Also, do you know that photographers can get permission to get to many places that are sometimes closed to the public if they ask nicely and they show that they have amazing work?
I live in Hawai'i, do you? I'm a weddings shooter on Maui who has lived here for 30+ years, and I'm more in touch with what's what in that regard. Did they get permission, and, most importantly, a PERMIT from the Parks Service? If so, I'm plenty surprised. Yeah, sure, you can get a permit to shoot in National Parks, but folks I know who live on the Big Island know that going onto active lava flows is seriously not allowed for any reason short of research. (The NPS website won't tell you yes or no, that's not its purpose.)
To clarify: It should have read, "Yeah, sure, you can get a permit to shoot commercially in National Parks..." Permits are NOT required for sightseers and such.
Absolutely awesome, Benjamin. Just watching the final images is a joy, but knowing the making of story behind it makes it even much more interesting. I personally admire people living for their visions and their intomidable will to make them real. Kudos!
If you're not being facetious, I would have toned down the contrast, I'm not sure what else, it looks like the post processing was over zealous, like the clarity slider went to 11. I can't pin point the exact issue I have with it, something about the very directional and hard lighting and/or contrast you processing.
To call someone an idiot because they didn't like a particular image highlights the lack of intelligence required to much a more mature comment.
I didn't recognize the name. But went to his website and immediately recognized some of his work. Mad skills and vision. I'm going to try not to read the comments lest I read someone saying "meh" or "mediocre talent" and break my monitor in frustration.
As a topical aside, many, many, years ago my grandfather and his brother in law walked on floes like this, IIRC in their bare feet. They could feel the lave moving several inches below. I remember seeing slides and possibly 8mm film of it as a boy, but have no idea what happened to the footage. I believe my grand uncle in law's family have the images, but I'm no longer in contact with them. Either way, it didn't look like these images!
Any person can snap a picture or talk about gear, but only a very few are creative in their own unique and daring ways. I've been following Benjamin Von Wong's creations for many years and, on this occasion, I say again, "Stunning!"
Absolutely 1000% agree.. I have a strong foundation in fine art. I studied at the Art students league and School of visual arts in N.Y. In my opinion Von Won is a mordern day master in the visual arts...
Stunning and stupid. I live in Hawaii a few minutes drive from this flow. The newly formed lava tubes are incredibly unpredictable in terms of their strength and can easily collapse, being almost paper thin in some locations.
First thing that I thought also.. I've seen Nat geo filmmakers wear protective suits when there close to lava .. The photos are also composited to make them seem like there that close.. If they were they would have been burnt alive...
Dear Aroart, look at the videos in YouTube. On these videos Von Wong tells the whole story and explains that he had a team of people around him. One of them is CJ Kale; a photographer that knows the area very well and is famous for his images of lava. The images are not made in Photoshop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uai5cnia12s
Does it really matter if he used Nikon/Canon or a Sony. The bottom line is he's a talented photographer with a unique vision and puts it out there for all of us to enjoy and admire. It doesn't hurt that he comes across sounding like a pretty cool guy on top of everything else. Thanks for sharing your vision and for donating to a worthy cause. You've gained another admirer.
Wong started off with Nikon if you see his work on flickr with exif. Once you become famous or gets a lot of views and followers, other companies will poach you and give you free equipment. A few noticable Nikon shooters that got poached are like fro, Scott Kelby, even Rockwell. Like them or not they get lost of followers. You can make more money from teaching then selling prints.
The best way to get free canon gears is to shoot nikon, get views, internet famous and get poached.
Anyways still like Wong work, whatever equipment he use.
gtfo with that gear fanboy garbage. Who cares what he is shooting with? He got the shots, right? Mods need to do more to delete these sorts of cancerous comments that don't contribute to anything. As a Nikon shooter myself, I have ZERO need to tell someone else why their camera of choice is the wrong choice. Zero. None. And there is NO justifying fanboyism and imposing your beliefs on someone else.
It is amazing how such patently ridiculous statement such as my original post can be taken so seriously by the literal-minded. Have fun with your pointless outrage!
P. S. The words "say" and "beautiful" were intended as clues. Humor can be considered an intelligence test. You have posted your own results of that test. You're welcome!
No, no, no. Your comment, regardless of how you downplay it is STILL garbage, cancerous and still posted with ill-intent. cease and desist immediately, you are an internet equivalent to AIDS.
Mr. VanWong, my actual feeling regarding your photography is admiration of your skill and resolve in getting these shots. My original post was intended to mock fanboyism, not your gear choices.
That's ryanyomomma, of course. Keep up the outrage for all the good you think it does. Have you ever heard of "stimulus and response"? You can't control the stimuli you encounter in life. You can only control your response. Try not to burst a blood vessel trying to control others words or actions.
A threat, profanity, an apparent assumption that you know my net worth, size and social status. The moderators might want to know about that but, of course, they aren't mental health professionals. So you may have to get help elsewhere.
No, you deserve it all. Also, calling me out on assumptions by making other assumptions. Perhaps you should look over the fact that you're also on the internet... thunderc##t.
I mean, if you're trying so hard to bring me down, more power to you, I guess? It's more amusing that you think that you got me. You still don't btw. Also, that information is now old... but hey, you keep trying to reply to all my "raging" comments that you been responding to this whole time... if you didn't get the pattern yet. but hey, YOU keep trying harder to best me... on the internet
If you believe I don't see a pattern in your rankings you may be mistaken. No one made you respond to my original post with such bile and venom. If anyone is bringing you down, it's you. Now it seems the original topic is on the back burner, having been supplanted by your emotional neediness to keep the dialogue going at all costs. This can happen with people who never grew out of the need for attention. So, it is now a contest of stamina because you lost the battle of wits when you resorted to name calling, threats and profanity.
I mean, this whole time I could've been just replying by spamming "herp derp" and you would still try to best me as hard as you can. lol And you still haven't figured it out. If you want to keep the last word, be my guest. I have to go help some veterans; some who are far more "worse" than you think I am mentally (again.. on a comment board.. on the internet), but are far, far more important than what you have to say or have done outside of here.
If you dare to mention a manufacturers name in cameraland, it unfortunately always touches a raw nerve, no matter how much tongue in cheek it is intended.
ryanyomomma, So, Tripler Army Medical Center? Spark M Matsunaga Veteran Clinic? Been there. More than once. You have no means of knowing what I've done outside of "here".
You know what's funny? Its been two days since Evan here thought he was besting me over my troll raging and yet he took time out of his day to stalk me on Facebook and try to harass me there. Honestly, how does it feel to be so peeved and driven to come find me outside the confines of a comment board over mere words posted on the Internet? Perhaps Mr. Slouch couldn't get the attention he needed since this artcle is now two days old now and people stopped commenting on it?
ryanyomomma. Is there a word for people who call names and use profanity as a substitute for intelligence? How about for people who insist that someone have the last word and then rant on? Whatever one might call this sort of person one can only hope they seek out a mental health professional for advice and/or treatment.
Stalking... as in he took the time to find me on a completely different website to pester and harass me two days after the initial trolling... and I need a mental health professional? Y'all should see the stuff he sent me.. and his website. It's almost comedic.. and then it becomes a sad. Not crying sad but rather "this guy will eventually end up as a registered sex offender or worse" kinda sad.
That must have been one hell of an experience! Awesome job! It makes me want to get out and try new things. I probably will not come out with anything high quality but it would be fun to try and learn something in the process.
Ben, you are truly inspiring people...you are inspiring me! You are not posting a new (same as a ton of other existing inages) image every day on Instagram, but when you share something it is of highest quality. Well done, Ben!
In no way I'm saying Mr. Wong's images here aren't beyond AMAZING. They are, and of course no one is gonna challenge that. (those below saying it doesn't impress are envious or whatever).
But at the same time, I feel I must add a third POV, one that isn't just praise, or being envious.
These images are fabulous work of art, but I can't help saying they work the way they do because of Mr. Wong's target market (which appreciates the style), and because it was done right (from a production value POV - Hawaii, lava flows, enough crew, enough lighting, enough time, etc).
Not in a million years trying to compare my work to his, but once as a beginner (3 years career back then), I did something quite similar on a rocky landscape, querosene , torches, and a model.
That shooting has stayed on my portfolio for many years.
No one cared among all my clients (wrong target market), but results were far from bad.
In fact, they were quite good, given the many limitations we've had that day.
What are you saying? That you created the whole 'genere' back in the day and that your work was too 'avant garde' and too far ahead of its time? You negotiated through alot of sentences.
By the replies, it seems my point wasn't clear enough, sorry about that.
I'm reading it now, and even I can't understand the point of my OP.
What I'm saying is that if you present these to the wrong audience (clients that are not interested in higher concept, engaging images), it might not work.
It works here, because we're all lovers of good photography. (AFAIK)
Also, although Mr. Wong's series is AMAZINGLY executed, it's a concept that whatever you do with it, you'll come back home with at least "good" results.
The sheer mix of fog, fire, rocky alien-esque environment and strobes firing make it a sure bet.
It's not hard to come home wih good+ results.
Pretty sure people will say I'm being a giant @ss, sorry, not my intention. I shouldn't even have started the OP.
But as I did, that's what we do here, we discuss. As long as it's kept polite and mature, no problem in discussing.
@MarcioNapoli Apples and oranges. You took out the dudes in the VonWong's and put in a couple of perfect 10's and you are wondering why everything works all of a sudden?? Actually is more like bananas vs melons. Good job!
Stunning shots. I've worked on many shoots and nothing compares to this. Could care less about the equipment. The key point for me is Benjamin Von Wong's imagination and creativity to even think up the shots. Secondly, the skill to lead a team and bring them to life. Outstanding..... and thanks to DPR for sharing
incredible imagination this guy has...I would have never thought of doing a model shoot like this in a lava field in a million years. I would have take all sort of landscape photos...but his model work is way ahead of everyone else. He is the modern day Avadon or Leibovitz.
Funny, but even though these shots were lit and that they were taken with what was surely a very good camera with very good high ISO performance, they still seem very noisy and lacking in detail. I have to wonder if this isn't because of the extreme heat on the shoot... heating up the sensor.
Incidentally, I don't think that the bit of noise really hurts them (I shot grainy 35mm for years), but I'm just curious as to the reason for it.
Wow. I love this! I see some people criticizing the results or just saying why endanger the model like this.... but I think the results are fantastic and were well worth it! This is pushing your photography craft AND the model's craft to the limits, and they can say "we did it!" That is the sense of adventure, the ambition, the drive to do something amazing, and everybody involved in this project deserves a lot of credit for accomplishing such a fantastic shoot!
I like this FWIW - it's a lifestyle curiosity more than anything else where the BTS becomes as much a part of the success of the images as the images themselves. That's OK, I suppose - it's what people are doing today to go the extra mile publicity wise. I'm all for it. The images aren't really my kind of thing, but I like number 2. It has to be said that with a bit of a set build and some smoke bombs this could probably have been achieved in a car park at midnight, but that's not the point is it?
The age old question: What is more important the Journey or the Destination?
Von Wong is obviously of the Journey camp and that's what these BTS videos are all about - to show you his journey and the importance to him of his path to get to his end product.
If you are of the Destination camp - you would have just composited the model shot in a studio into the lava scene in PS and it may have even looked better as a finished image. Add the moon he talked about wanting to have or even dragons flying around breathing fire.
It just depends on what your view of life is about - the jorney or the destination...
LOL - Of course if you can get your client to pay for your Journey - that would be best but most clients want the cheapest and fastest way to the Destination.
The photos are not particularly well lit and viewed on the screen, there is no 'pop' and therefore they are not that good IMO. Furthermore, I think there are enough anime/hentai CGI images from video games and other such media around that look much better, so the idea of duplicating that with live subject seems real silly.
The rim light is the pop. Can you duplicate the look in CGI? Of course you can! But this ain't CGI! Then why shoot anything for real, just CGI your entire life and live in the Matrix.
Now go find a nice bird or bug to shoot and leave the artist to their work.
... there are enough anime/hentai CGI images from video games and other such media around that look much better, so the idea of duplicating that with a real girlfriend must seem silly too.
I wish we had more time and more gear for lighting - but when you have to hike your gear 4 miles on lava and work around the terrain - you don't always get what you want. You should go experience it some day ! It's an amazing experience.
The only reason you're getting so much criticism is the "Sony" effect here at DPR. If you shot it with a Canon or even Nikon, praise would be all over the place. It's pathetic. Von Wong, you are a genius.
@estarkey No, I don't have problem with live subjects. I have a problem with silly post-nuclear holocaust art and fiction. Where everyone's a bodybuilder going around wearing sleevless jackets made of furry skins, people carry giant swords and have animal teeth neckless around their neck and other such crap. Sorry.
@PVCdroid Rejection is the name of the game. If you have experienced it like I did you'd come to accept it. I got no problem with Sony at all as they are my cameras of choice.
@VonWong I think the location is great and with plenty of enviromental challenges no doubt. Anyways, thanks for commenting. Looking forward to more work from you.
I rather admire Benjamin Von Wong's constant push against the limit with his photography. Sometimes the images work really well (like his underwater shipwreck shoot), sometimes it looks a bit odd (underwater fisherman shoot). But he's not to be dismissed as a mere attention-seeker who's good at self-promotion. Regardless of one's aesthetic preference, Von Wong's outrageous creativity and mastery of photography should be commended.
I agree - the guy is definitely pushing the limits and very creative. I don't like these shots, but the rooftop superheroes and other stuff he's done is pretty cool.
haha can't have every single shoot be a full winner - what matters is to constantly grow and push boundaries - both your own and that of other peoples expectations of you~!
I agree. Although not every image is impressive, VonWong is well known for pushing limits but lately he's been slacking a bit. lol...keep up the good work @VonWong!.
I love it. Mr Von Wong is clearly of the 'go big or go home' school of photography. These images could be fantasy book cover illustrations and it's cool to me that they're real-life instead (albeit heavily post processed).
Honestly, these pictures look awful, but hey everyone has a different concept of art. On the other hand he used Sony, to get anything good out of a Sony you do need to do some heavy PP.
@raindance, If anything, these photos attest to how incredible the A7RII is. Such a clean image at ISO 8000 for a high resolution camera. And the excellent image stabilisation allowed the photographer to shoot at low shutter speed as well. Gears are just gears, but in the case of this photo shoot, I suspect the A7RII helped rather than got in the way of the making of the photos.
for me the primal look of the models doesnt work with the electric light. the subjects seem out of place. maybe a crashed Tron astronaut would have worked better?
@EC My goodness gracious, me too! But I strap all my models down so they don't fly away, do you? ...I am sure the situation does not raise to 'threat level red'!
Just because a model has no problem with risking his life doesn't mean I can let that happen in my work. My responsibility is not depended on model's willingness to do stupid things or his adrenaline level. my responsibility is based on my own red lines.
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