a trip to panama

I've been doing so many bits and pieces for other people lately that I haven't had much time to work on my own projects. In one way that's great, because I'm always flattered and honoured when I'm asked to shoot for other people. But it's also potentially frustrating when I'm not getting the chance to shoot my own stuff. Sometimes, though, what I do for others gives me the chance to also do what I really love, without many restrictions. 

I recently did a shoot for Eagle and the Worm, and we took a lot of photos for press purposes. For a variety of reasons, they didn't work out as well as we had all hoped, and for other reasons, I don't think they will be used. Which isn't a bad thing - if work that I don't love doesn't get used, it's almost a blessing in disguise. But that doesn't mean it was a fruitless exercise. For one thing, I always learn a lot with each new project. And, more importantly, after we did the press stuff, I got to shoot them just hanging out. And these photos I am completely in love with.

When Jarrad and I were looking for a location for the shoot we were kind of stumped. I had recently been to the Panama Dining Room for the first time, and I was blown away by the beauty of the place, and especially the stunning arched windows - I really wanted to photograph it. So I suggested it to Jarrad, who got in touch with the restaurant, and luckily they gave it to us for a Saturday afternoon.

It isn't just the windows and the interior design that I love about these photos. I was using a film that I hadn't tried before and the contrast and smoothness is so gorgeous. Then there is light - the way it glows, and the way it falls so naturally on the subjects. 

And let's not forget the subjects themselves. Everyone was pretty relaxed seeing as it was the end of the shoot. After having a camera pointed at you for hours on end I suppose you get used to it, and perhaps the initial discomfort gives way to a kind of nonchalance. While I like the long shots that include most members of the band and make the most of the glorious windows, I have to say it's the individual portraits that I like best. I'm just going to show you one each of all of them, because they are pretty stunning:

Phew. See what I mean? What an amazingly photogenic bunch. Things like this remind me that while I love to experiment with all kinds of photo types in all kinds of situations, the power of a simple, black and white portrait is hard to beat. There were so many great photos from the three rolls I took for these shots; it was one of those rare occasions where there were more winners than losers. As a result, it's difficult to choose which ones to post and which to leave out. So at the risk of throwing the image-to-word ratio of this post way out, I'm going to finish with a few more of my favourites, because they say as much as any words I could write about them.

for the love of feet

By most standards, feet are kind of unappealing. They get sweaty and smelly; they are often covered in delightful things like corns, bunions, cracks and calluses; the nails are prone to yellowing and collecting a whole lot of undefined gunk; and as a general rule, Tarantinoesque fetishes notwithstanding, people find feet ugly. Some people vehemently despise them. There is even such a thing as podophobia - yep, fear of feet.

But I reckon feet are alright. In fact, lately I've had a tendency to point my lens towards the floor and capture just the bottom half of people. I only really noticed it when I took all those photos of the beautiful children in my life, but actually it extends beyond cute mini feet. The top photo is probably my favourite of these ones. We see great legs with a gorgeous grey tone against the bright white heels. The floorboards add a great texture and don't look like a typical dance floor. (It was a house party.)

The thing I wonder about all of these photos is, how much would I like them if they included the whole bodies and faces of the subjects? Take the first one: if I had Maydia's face in the photo then it would almost certainly be a more animated image, but seeing as it was late at a party there's always the chance it wouldn't be flattering. Whereas here the focus is entirely on her legs and feet - which look fantastic, and would regardless of the time of night. And the mere exclusion of heads and faces means that the photo is automatically less conventional, which I find interesting.

In all of these photos we are forced to look more closely at the details in order to find out about these people. In the second, we can see several people and lots of cords, a bit of a guitar, plus a mic stand. So it seems that it's a band, but the fact that it's on carpet and there are quite a few people standing closely together throws it off a bit - it's not a stage per se, so where is this? What is going on? If the people were shown in full we would be able to tell who is in the band and who isn't, and we'd be able to see the background and perhaps get a better idea of where it is. As it is, though, I like the element of the unknown.

The position of the feet in the third photo lets us know that whoever it is is relaxing, and if we look closely we can see a bottle of wine on the concrete: not a lot of information, but enough to convey a pretty strong sense of leisure. And again, the white shoes against the dark background stand out beautifully on the black and white film.

The final photo is a lot less cryptic, in that it's a relatively classic image of a rock and roll band. But if we ask the above question - what would the photo be like with faces included - I realise why I like it so much more with just legs and feet. See, faces automatically draw your attention. That's great - I mean, I adore portraiture - but what that also means is that your attention is being taken away from other details in the photo. When you don't have that distraction, you have to build personality and narrative from other elements. So we see boots/shoes, dark jeans, cords, mic stands, beers, a coffee cup, floorboards and natural light. So it's during the day, but they're drinking beers. There is also a coffee cup, which implies they may have been there for a while - or perhaps someone's hungover. They're standing in a line, so it would appear they're performing. But the floorboards and the ramp and rug in the background don't really look like they belong to a conventional stage. So what's going on?

Maybe with the absence of the complete picture, so to speak, there is no way to know exactly what is going on (not that full bodies and faces tell you everything, of course - but they certainly tend to tell you a lot more than feet). So instead of being presented with a photo that is relatively easy to interpret - a narrative - we are faced with something closer to a feeling. And while photos that tell an unambiguous story can be wonderful, it's also nice to appreciate a less straightforward image, where you're forced to think, and where the imagination might be able to come up with a story much more fascinating than the reality of the scene.

the kinds of photos you can't use for promotional purposes, part two

So we were in this fabulously dodgy motel room, and unfortunately the natural light wasn't strong enough for the film I was using. I had two choices: use a flash, which would wash everyone and everything out and look basically pretty dodgy, or use a tripod and get everyone to stay really still for a longer exposure.

Most of these guys managed to stay wonderfully still. Most.

I guess they got restless.

I love both of these photos so much. The first because you'd never tell it was a long exposure except for Michael's massive blurriness; the fact that everone else is so clear makes it quite bizarre. And the second because while Michael, Emily, Jarrad and Rich are in some kind of motion and Liam, Ross and Joe are not looking at the camera, Jim has this incredible expression - complete with Bible in hand and glasses in mouth - directed right into the lens. So great.

I also think the disgustingly ordinary cream brick wall and the wood-covered fluorescent light, with its eerily warm glow, are pretty great.

These photos were taken with the aim of getting some very specific publicity shots. We did quite a few different set-ups around the motel, most of which turned out pretty well. As ususal, though, there were some shots that were never going to make the publicity cut. These first two, for obvious reasons, are examples.

I told Jarrad that the flash would make everything look dodge-a-rama, but he was all for it. So the flash came out blazing, blinding all the eagles and worms in the room. These have such a different look and feel to the warmer, non-flash images, but I still like them in all their disgusting glory. The flat tones and non-existent depth suit the crappiness of the room.

During this part of the shoot, Rich had just incorporated some very unsavoury improvisation in his reading from the Bible. While it kept everyone entertained during what can be a pretty tedious process, it also meant that the laughter sometimes got too much. And so we have a photo where only one of eight faces is actually completely visible.

This wonderful wall provided a much-needed barrier between the driveway and the (empty and dirty) pool. The sun was beating down creating harsh shadows and squinty eyes, but the shots turned out better than I thought they would. Indra provided some of the laughs when I needed some animation, which generally worked really well. Then he started throwing someone's shrivelled-up half-eaten sausage at them and things got a little weird. This shot is great because their reactions are pretty priceless, but it's not really what you'd call press-friendly.

The colour scheme of the motel's exterior is so classically bad, in the best possible way. The dated materials combined with the life-could-be-a-dream teal and cream reminds me so much of cheap '80s American movies set in California or Miami. And as a certified connoisseur of '80s bikini movies (a term that I, ahem, actually coined myself), this excited me greatly. The set-up of this shot isn't very dynamic, and I don't think anyone was really feeling it at the time. I don't regret insisting on the shots, though, because I adore the colours and the wonderful repetition in the door/window combo. And that fabulous railing.

The pool shots were undoubtedly the winners of the day. The sunshine, the light and dark teal, the empty grotty pool, the al-cheapo potted palm. It was a lot of fun. (At least, it was for me. I can't speak for these poor over-photographed suckers!)

Last time I wrote about press shots that didn't go as planned, I pointed out that the technically 'unusable' images are often the most interesting. I think that's true of a lot of the photos above, but I think it's especially true of this one. I was using my tripod and getting all the guys (and gal) to stay super still. It was all going well, except that after a couple of shots I realised that I was totally out of focus. But by accidentally focusing on the foreground, I have this wonderful image of everyone where everything is blurry - except for the soles of three pairs of shoes, right in the centre of the image. How fantastic! Well, I think so. An unexpected gem from an otherwise pretty straightforward set-up.

This expedition was a bit challenging, because they were being taken for publicity purposes, and I/we had to work with some interesting confines. While I don't adore the photos in terms of my personal photography, I'm really pleased with the results, relative to the project. And Jarrad was also really pleased with them. And in this case, that's definitely the main thing.

the kinds of photos you can't use for promotional purposes, part one

If you read this blog, you will know that I have taken photos for the band Eagle and the Worm before. It's always a massive honour when Jarrad asks me to shoot for him, and it always challenges my amateur photography skills in new ways. A few months ago, the specific task was to get some band shots to use for promotion. After some careful consideration (and last-minute desperation), we settled on a grand, albeit slightly decrepit, apartment building on a residential St Kilda street.

The building was chosen because it has a number of positive attributes: it is old, with a lot of character; it has a wide platform that quite easily fits eight people across it; the large, arched green doors are really unusual, and add a point of interest to the background; it has steps, so that eight people can be arranged in a cluster without hiding one another; and, perhaps most importantly, it is at once familiar and unique. This last point was really the clincher, because we wanted something that wouldn't look typically Melbourne, but would look classic in a global-city kind of way.

Seeing as we were going for a classic look, I thought it would be appropriate to use lomo cameras as well as black and white, in addition to some more standard colour 35mm. If you ask me, the lomo shots are pretty fantastic. There's an authenticity to them that kind of captures exactly what I had in mind as far as a general feeling. However, with their blurred edges (and, indeed, middles), awkward framing and light leaks, they are just entirely unsuitable for the purposes of mainstream media. Do you think the Herald Sun would have published a blurry, off-centre photo? No.

And that's totally fine. I mean, I understand why they wouldn't. Having worked in publishing for a few years now, I appreciate the technical (and other) requirements that publishers have in order to maintain a certain standard. Similarly, while the black and white looks great, it probably won't grab the reader's already-overloaded attention like colour will. And, while the sun-drenched/light-faded image above has an overwhelmingly nostalgic mood, who wants to publish a picture that obscures its subjects to such an extent?

In the end, Jarrad chose three 35mm images - two colour and one black and white. The main colour image (and the one that ended up in the Herald Sun) is this one:

It's a great choice. It's clean without being sterile, it makes the most of the backdrop without being overwhelmed by it, and it still has those great natural colour tones that keep it from looking like a digital photo, which in turn adds to that classic feel we were aiming for. In addition to all this, everyone looks great in this shot. And believe me, that's no mean feat when there is eight times the chance of blinking eyes, blurred movement, awkward expressions and embarassing gestures.

I've done another shoot with EATW since this one (which I will post at a later date), and like this one, the purpose was publicity. There is quite a bit of added pressure when a) you know you need to produce a media-friendly image; b) you work with film and so can't monitor your progress throughout the shoot; c) you are used to producing experimental images; and d) you know that the likelihood of coordinating nine people to get to the one place at the one time is pretty bloody small. But that doesn't mean that you can't push a little more on the creative side in addition to getting the more straightforward images. It is from this experimentation that some of the most unexpected and interesting images emerge. Just don't expect to see them in the Herald Sun.

triumph

It was over a year ago now that I took some photos of a certain local band's debut live performance. I felt honoured to be asked to do it, and I thought I was up to the challenge. The band was Eagle and the Worm, and I wrote about the dismal failure of the photos on this blog about eleven months ago.

When just two weeks ago Eagle's mastermind Jarrad asked me to take more photos of his wonderful band, I was more than a little reluctant. What if they fail again, I thought. Everyone in the band will know. I'll let Jarrad down.

Lucky for me, and lucky for Jarrad, they didn't fail at all.

(A note: I really must recommend that you click through on all the images to see them enlarged.)

The above photo is, for me, by far the most successful and wonderful image of the dozens I took that afternoon. It just hits every note: composition, lighting, contrast. But more importantly than all that (and no doubt in part because of all that), it captures something at once beautiful and classic about this band, and it seems to hold so much of what I love about photography and about music.

While I can definitively say that the first photo is my standout, there are many other highlights, if only because a) I took so many shots, and b) I was shooting with four different types of film, so there is lots of variety in the results. Take this shot of Joe, who was in the prime position to bask in the late afternoon rays of light streaming through into the gorgeous rehearsal room. This particular film, with its extreme grain, gives all the light an ethereal quality. Doesn't Joe look like some kind of apparition?

Another reason Joe was a favourite subject was his amazing instruments. He had brought three keyed instruments - at the risk of sounding ignorant, I'm going to say an organ, a piano and a keyboard - which surrounded him with this incredibly striking border. The gorgeous, smooth, silvery film perfectly complements the black and white of the keys. And let's not overlook Joe's amazing shirt. And hair. And moustache.

While I took a tonne of photos using my 35mm cameras, I also wanted to make good use of my lomo cameras. Jarrad had said that he was looking for a classic, analogue look, and so there was no way I was going past the vignetted, scratchy look of black and white through the plastic lenses of the Holga and Diana. This great shot of Jarrad makes me pleased I decided to coordinate all four of my cameras, because it's got such great energy. In truth it was really rushed because we were getting kicked out of the room, but to Jarrad's credit (and possibly to mine), we managed to get a totally natural, dynamic and quite timeless shot of this modest leading man.

Another classic image of Jarrad - though you can't necessarily tell it's him. Most photos from the day made good use of my various flashes. But thanks to that one stream of light, I was able to get a few in natural light. I love the way it hits the floor and creates the stark shadows in this image.

The main aim of the afternoon was to get shots of the band playing together, and photos like this one, with all the mics in a row, hint at the scale of the band while still focusing on an individual.

The great thing about being in the rehearsal room with Eagle and the Worm was that I felt totally comfortable getting right up in their faces, which I needed to do in order for lomo shots like this one to work out. Everyone was overwhelmingly welcoming and accommodating, too, which made all the difference. I wouldn't have the success rate I ended up with if not for the total cooperation of all these lovely people.

I was happy to push myself and my cameras to capture more than one person in the frame. But I have to be honest - the shots I revelled in taking were the lone portraits, which enabled my cameras to really get to know everyone, so to speak. Initially, I did this while they played. And take a look at these four stunning shots of the solo musicians:

There isn't much to say about these that you can't tell just by looking; they're all so vibrant and attractive.

I wanted to take the portrait idea further, though, and so I got each member to pose for me against a grotty old wall after the rehearsal had finished. I shot them on both 35mm and the Diana, and I love the results from each format. Here are just a few examples:

Look at Liam! Look at Jim! At Joe! At Michael! Holy hell, if nothing else you have to concede that this is one good-looking band.

I suspect Jarrad asked me to take the photos because he thought that the style of my black-and-white photography would suit the down-and-dirty, marvellously boisterous vibe of his magnificent band. I think he was right. When he told me he was thrilled with the results I felt completely relieved and abolutely over the moon that my photos could please someone else to such an extent. But aside from that, the almost total success of these photos means that I'm finally at peace with those terrible images from just over a year ago.