I usually like to open my blog posts with an image, hopefully a somewhat interesting image.  But this one needs a little setup.  

One of the lessons we learn as photographers is the need to "work the scene".  It means looking at all of the visual elements and photographic possibilities inherent in a given location, with an eye toward composition.  It's most frequently employed in landscape and architectural photography, where the scene doesn't change, but the position of the photographer and camera angle can change in relation to the scene.  It's also used in portraiture, so the subject can be placed in a way that minimizes background distractions and renders the subject in a more compelling way.  Most folks aren't typically aware of this process; they look at an interesting landscape and fire away without knowledge of how the eye moves through (and hopefully stays within) a photograph.  Or they focus on the face of the person being photographed, and fail to notice the tree seemingly growing out of the person's head.

I've posted quite a few photographs here that were made at various live performances during broadcasts of KSBR's Gary and Kelly Show at the Norman P. Murray Center in Mission Viejo.  These broadcasts are great fun for those who attend them, and they give me wonderful access to incredibly talented performers.  I've also commented on the benefit of repositioning myself during a performance to get a more interesting background.  But today I want to take this concept a little farther, not only in terms of working the camera angles, but also exploring the performer in greater detail.

This opportunity comes by way of the realization that at this particular venue, with the audiences' chairs set up the way they are, and video crews located where they are, there are only about five unobstructed camera angles available to the photographer: center rear at eye level, stage left (high or low), and stage right (high or low).  So the more I shoot there, the more challenging it is to get fresh, compelling images that differ from those previously made.

Such was the challenge I faced last Saturday when sax virtuoso Euge Groove performed hits from his recent release "House of Groove".  The morning of the performance was bright and sunny, rendering the window behind the stage (although covered by a drape and some light) completely unusable as a background.  Sometimes, if the weather is cloudy, this can be overcome, but today, no way.  Here was the starting point:

Euge sounded great, but visually...yuck.

So we move to the side, try to minimize the window as much as possible, and hope to get a good look at Euge talking with host Gary Bergeson, and place him in relation to his publicity picture on the stage.  We get a nice expression that shows what kind of guy Euge is, but that window is just killing the shot:

Okay, gotta get rid of the window altogether.  So we move to the tightest view from stage left and wait for him to step forward during his set:

Nice shot, but one I've taken a hundred times from this same vantage point.  I like the light from this angle; it's short lighting that provides a nice loop lighting pattern on the face.  But we need to do something more.  Maybe a tighter composition with a little more expression from Euge.  He's working hard, and with the hot lights, he's starting to get red in the face and sweat:

Not bad, but not that different, either.  So what can we do now?  What about a totally non-sax-playing portrait of Euge enjoying the applause from the audience after performing one of his hits?  This one requires careful observation of the performer and precise timing to capture a look of inner satisfaction, rather than simply a reaction to the fans themselves.

And finally, what can I do to create a different kind of look from all of the others that I've captured at these wonderful performances?  How about a darker portrait, softer but with deeper contrast, out of the specific context of this venue?  I think the application of different treatments specific to each performer is the direction I want to explore more as I continue to work this particular scene.  

Next up with Gary and Kelly:  Brian Culbertson on December 8. I'm pretty sure I'll be using different, grittier techniques for him.  I can't wait!

Back in March, in one of my first blog posts here, I wrote about a fantastic opportunity I had to work with Jordan Matter, who was working on a three-year effort to publish a book based on his "Dancers Among Us" project.  It was a fantastic opportunity to watch Jordan at work, and to contribute to the project by bringing him two amazing local dancers I know, as well as to scout, suggest, and coordinate locations for Jordan while he was here in SoCal.  There was only one caveat; I couldn't release any photos that I took that might be similar in composition to those that Jordan made, prior to the publication of the book.  Well, the book comes out later this month, and just today, Jordan released the names of the dancers whose images will be included in it.  So I conclude from these two facts that it's now okay to show you what we were up to on those two days.  These photographs are mine, not Jordan's.  Some were made to give Jordan something he could use for his own purposes (showing him at work).  Others were shot alongside Jordan, or from a different angle.

The first location I suggested was the famous entrance to Grauman's Chinese Theater, with the handprints and footprints of Hollywood's elite.  A shot of a dancer in Fred Astaire's or Ginger Rogers' handprints would be cool, and Jordan agreed.  So here's Kevin Williams doing a handstand, but in Jack Nicholson's handprints.  Why not Astaire's?  Because Fred Astaire had these little bitty hands, and Kevin dwarfed him.  Here's Jordan shooting Kevin in one of about 100 takes, before security kicked us out. 

After Grauman's, Jordan wanted to consider a location in the Hollywood Hills where there might be a sweeping vista of LA.  I knew just the place, so off we went, and Jordan captured Jamila Glass hanging off a fenced-in communications tower with LA in the back.  I don't think this shot made the book, but I do believe that Jamila, who went out to Joshua Tree with Jordan the day after we did this, will be in the book.  By the way, it's a long way down below Jamila.

When I first contacted Jordan about this opportunity to work with him in LA, I had two high school dancers in mind, Lauren Rauen and Caitlin Pulone, both of whom could easily perform the kinds of amazing leaps, poses, and characters that Dancers Among Us embodied.  Jordan envisioned an out-of-work actress in front of the iconic Paramount Studios gate on Melrose Avenue, and I knew that Lauren was the perfect dancer to pull this off.  So I made a sandwich board of a previous headshot I made of Lauren, and a stack of 8x10's for her to hold.  Jordan amped up the concept by asking Lauren to hold them in both hands as well as one foot.  We ducked into an alley so Lauren could get comfortable doing this very tricky pose in the middle of the street, and when she was ready, out we went.  She performed flawlessly.

Jordan wanted to photograph Caitlin in a bookstore, and I suggested Book Soup on the Sunset Strip.  It was long after dark when we arrived, and Jordan talked his way into shooting Cate on a bookshelf ladder.  The staff at Book Soup was more than happy to accommodate us.  I put a pair of reading glasses on Cate, and here's what we got.

It was a long day of shooting, and we got back to OC after 11:00.  Time to crash and burn, because tomorrow would be another long day.  The first location I had suggested to Jordan was the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  I had photographed Cate there on a previous occasion, and it was a sample from that shoot that got Jordan interested.  So we met there, along with a bunch of dancers who had responded to Jordan's casting call.

We met in front of the WDCH and Jordan briefed the dancers on how the day would go.  While Jordan was talking with the dancers, I made this tight profile of dancer Mysti Rose.

She would later pose in this partner shot with a male dancer whose name I unfortunately didn't record, in a location I had used with Cate previously.

Jordan is a very creative guy; one of the shots he envisioned at WDCH was to put this same male dancer up in a tree, reading a book.  Okay, a reasonable, kinda predictable shot.  But no; Jordan's concept was for him to hang upside down in the tree, reading a book.  Something like this:

From here, we went down to Skid Row, where Jordan photographed Terry Beeman in front of the Continental Hotel, not exactly the Ritz, where just a few days before, somebody got whacked upstairs.  This shoot was high-concept, and Terry pulled it off very well, first staggering (artistically) in the street, and later in this pose in front of the hotel.

One of the dancers we brought along that day was Melinda Marchiano, a young dancer from the Central Coast area.  Melinda loves dance, and she's a very good dancer.  What sets Melinda apart, though, is the fact that she's a cancer survivor and has published an amazing book on her experience.  It was her love of ballet that inspired her through recovery.  Here she is, down in the Toy District, with her book, titled "Grace".  The eerie, depressing mural provides a reminder of what she must have gone through on her journey back to health.  But Melinda is anything but depressed; she's an inspiration.

Moving through downtown LA in mid-day traffic can be daunting, especially when you're traveling in a caravan, with drivers who aren't that familiar with the territory.  Especially when you're pulling illegal U-turns in the middle of Skid Row so Jordan can check out a location.  Especially when you're two guys who are dancers, and acrobats, who don't exactly frequent Skid Row.  And especially when you get pulled over by LA's Finest, and get a ticket for said illegal U-turn.  That experience was enough to cause our two intrepid acrobats to depart the neighborhood for safer, more familiar digs.

Fortunately, we met up with them later that evening in Beverly Hills, at Two Rodeo, on the corner of Wilshire and Rodeo Dr.  I had suggested this location earlier, as it has a very European feel, with a winding walkway down a faux hill.  Jordan captured them at the prime location of this retail development and made a photograph before we got kicked out of this place, too.

Jordan Matter spent two more days in SoCal, but I had other commitments, and could not join him on those two days, as he photographed dancers in Venice Beach and all the way out in Joshua Tree National Park.  Nevertheless, it was an experience I won't soon forget, and one which has strongly influenced me in how I will approach my own location-based dance photography.

"Dancers Among Us" will be in bookstores later this month, and can be pre-orded through the usual online channels.  Check it out; it will change the way you think about dance and dancers.

I've been asked to do a lot of headshots lately, including some environmental portraits (which I loved doing), to corporate headshots for a company wall, to studio work (if by "studio" you count my living room...).  Right now, if I had to choose, I think simple shots like these are my current favorite style.  This approach is strongly influenced by Peter Hurley, a New York-based actors' headshot specialist who has his style and method of interacting with clients down pat.  Hurley's lighting approach is bright, broad, and flexible, giving his clients room to move and interact with him to get the kinds of expressions that get his clients booked.  Lighting-wise, Hurley uses four banks of KinoFlo fluorescents with accents as needed; he shoots with a Hasselblad.  So there's about $40 G's right there.  For me, it's my trusty Qflash mounted in a socked Kacey beauty dish, with different kinds of reflectors underneath, and two 580EXII speedlites providing blow-out white on the backdrop.  The camera is my old-school Canon 5D, with a 24-105mm f/4 or the 135mm f/2.

We started out with the white backdrop and a white fill board underneath, to open up the shadows under the subject's chin in a classic butterfly lighting pattern.  In this case, the subject is Alyssa, a talented and powerful dancer who's looking forward to a professional dance career.  She needed a headshot for an agent.  So we started with this basic setup, and got this:

Okay, a nice, serviceable frame.  An engaging, forward-looking expression that says, "I'm here and ready to show you what I can do."  It's probably not the headshot you want to submit to the agent, but it's a good place to start.  So we move things around, get some different expressions, including the one at the top of this post.  We back up a bit, and get a vertical with more of Alyssa.  This one has her posing on a piece of white foam core.  What you don't see is my long-suffering wife Karen, who's sitting on the floor, holding up the foam core for Alyssa to rest her arms on.

It's always fun to take a break from focusing on facial expressions, to loosen up a bit and do some hair flips.  The flash duration on the Qflash isn't exactly bullet-stopping, but it's short enough to do these.  You're always at the mercy of the moment, but if your timing is quick and the hair cooperates, you can get some fun images like this one:

From here, we decided to change things up.  Off go the two speedlites, and the white backdrop goes gray.  Why?  It's the inverse square law; look it up.  So we also need a change of wardrobe; the blue tank contrasts nicely with the gray back.  Placing Alyssa off to the side gives her "room to breathe".  It also provides an opportunity to overlay some text in the negative space on the right if you want to do that in your headshot.

The thing about this image is THOSE EYES.  Alyssa can give you any number of looks, but the best ones are those where her gaze fixes right down the center of the lens.  She could have three arms, and your focus would still go straight to the eyes.  As Hurley would say when he gets one of these:  "SHABANG!"  This was probably my favorite of the shoot.  Alyssa chose this next one, but cropped to vertical as requested by the agent (I still prefer the horizontal orientation shown below).

As mentioned above, the off-center orientation of the subject is usually best from a photographic perspective for a number of reasons, but sometimes a face screams to be centered.  It's rare that a person has a perfectly symmetrical face; that's why people have a "good side" and a "bad side" for photographs.  If you were to take a picture of yourself, cut it down the middle, reproduce one side and flip it over onto the other side, you'd be amazed at how different it is from reality.  But Alyssa's face is quite symmetrical, and she can easily stand up to a centered frame.  Plus, when you have THOSE EYES, you want to maximize their impact on the viewer.  So this next image owes a lot to Scott Kelby, who teaches this version of clamshell lighting, replacing the white fill board with a silver reflector to open up the shadows even more, and to put some additional pop into the eyes.  This kind of photograph is very commercial and "graphic" in style; you want clean lines, minimal wardrobe distraction, and pulled back hair to really focus on the face.

We were at it for only about an hour and a half, but it was time to pack it in for the evening.  We decided to end with a few more hair flips, to see if we could get some lucky combinations of hair, eyes, and expression.  I liked this one best.  It shows the Alyssa I know, fun-loving, quirky, and great to be around.