Profoto recently connected two icons in their respective fields: Albert Watson, the portrait photography legend, and Sergei Polunin, the so-called "bad boy of ballet" and probably the only ballet dancer you could call "mainstream.

" Together, they set about capturing some unique portraits, and filmmaker Eric Becker, the director of our own long-form video series, was there to document the process.

Watson's work—which you can find in galleries and museums world-wide—spans a few genres. But the shots that define his career are his portraits. . . photographs of influential men and women that often look almost sculpture-like. If you're interested at all in portrait photography, listening to Watson talk you through his light shaping process will be incredibly inspirational.

And if you're a fan of high end lighting equipment well. . . you might just slobber all over your keyboard as you watch his assistants unpack a veritable army of Profoto Pro-10's ($14,000 each) for this shoot.

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In the end, of course, Watson was less concerned with the gear than the portraits he was trying to capture with said gear. His process is a journey that he describes as, "not a distinct road to the final shot. You don’t know until you get there. ”

And when he got there, this is what he captured: three photographs, one showing Sergei in flight, the other two described as "modern sculptures. "

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All in all, Profoto doesn't miss the mark when they call the video above "a masterclass in light shaping. " Check it out for yourself, and then head over to the Profoto website to hear the story in their own words.

All photographs courtesy of Profoto

2017-9-7 23:54