a few types o' portraits

One of my friends recently had a baby. This is relatively new for me; despite being 'of age', very few of my close friends have come to procreate. (Yet.) So when I told this friend that I would love to come and meet his baby, he invited me over and asked me to bring my camera. YES!

I've never shot newborns before, but I figured that there can't be much to it - they look so damned cute regardless of what the camera does. And I was right! What a beautiful picture of a beautiful baby.

Here's a couple with Dad a little more involved. They're so lovely, and one of the nicest things is, they really don't need a lot of forethought or analysis; they are gorgeous simply because of what is in them.

Now, I'm not saying Jim isn't naturally gorgeous... but these photos took a lot of forethought! Which is because, unlike some casual snapshots of a friend, these are carefully planned press shots for the one and only Grizzly Jim Lawrie. I'd never purposely gone after sun glare (aka lens flare) before, and I wasn't sure how easy it would be to achieve. But we both agreed that regardless of actual glare, we wanted to capitalise on the early evening golden sunshine - my favourite kind of light. As it turned out, the flare worked pretty beautifully too!

The first two of Jim are being used as press photos. I liked this one, but he thought it looked like he was holding some kind of intergalactic weapon. Fair enough.

So in the first instance, it was a friend's baby, where I could shoot however I wanted - very natural, very spontaneous and organic. Then there was the music press shot, where creativity is still prized, but you work within certain boundaries to achieve a previously agreed-upon goal. Now we have what is perhaps the least flexible type of portrait I've ever done: the actor's headshot.

I did quite a lot of research to figure out what kind of guidelines, or rules, existed when it came to professional headshots. My understanding is that agents and casting directors (is that what they're called?) generally don't want anything too 'different' - which for me means no grain, no wacky angles, no warped colours, no candid moments. It was an interesting challenge, and I think this image was a good result. I shot Rachel from above because everyone looks better like that (there's a reason all the stupid girls take their selfies with arms stretched up to the bloody ceiling), and I used a film with natural tones and fine grain. Look who knows if this is a desirable outcome in terms of the industry - but you can see her face, she looks pretty, it doesn't look airbrushed, and it doesn't look like she's advertising toilet spray. Also, Rachel likes it. So as far as I'm concerned, it's a winner.

Is there a conclusion to this somewhat strange mixture of portraits? Well, I guess it's that portraits vary a lot! But perhaps also this: even the most straightforward, rigid type of portrait can engage if you connect with your subject and capture something of who they are. (OK I guess that's not technically a conclusion, in that I haven't specifically discussed it in the body of the post, but I still think it's true so it will remain my final thought.)

a grizzly challenge

A dear friend of mine recently asked me to undertake a collaborative project. It was to go like this: I would take a portrait of him that would be enlarged and cut up into 72 squares, where each portion of the larger work would become one CD cover. These 72 covers would be displayed on a gallery wall, and each would contain a CD single available for purchase. So you buy a piece of art and a piece of music. It's such a wonderful idea! And of course I jumped at the chance to partake, not only because it would be a marvellous creative challenge, but because it is always an honour to have anything to do with the gorgeous talent that is Grizzly Jim Lawrie.

(Another dear friend filmed the above shoot, and interviewed both Jim and I about the project, and you can see the video here.)

The main challenge for me was constructing a portrait where even the background would be interesting when isolated as a CD case. This is difficult with a photograph, because most photographic portraits have a relatively subdued background, which allows the subject to stand out. After much brain strain, though, it came to me. Of course! A sprocket strip! Lots of colour, lots of abstract bits and pieces filling the frame(s), lots of layers, lots of sprockets and film markings!

So the technical approach was decided. But what of the content? My first idea, which you see above, was to go for a walk with Jim around his neighbourhood, and shoot whatever seemed interesting or relevant along the way (including, multiple times, Jim himself). Looking at the results now, I think they are quite interesting. But I wasn't willing to put all my eggs into one roll of film, so to speak, so I did another shoot too, which involved Jim warming a late Sunday afternoon pub crowd with his acoustic loveliness.

For the final portrait, I ended up using the results from the second shoot. I felt that the photo(s) from the first shoot were just a bit too nondescript, with not enough clarity and detail in the strip (click on them to see them up close). I'll post the 'successful' results another time. But for now, I wanted to give some love to these images - the rejects of the project, as it were - because you know what? They're not so bad.