So I thought I’d do a little inside knowledge / behind the shot post. I’ve taken a shot from this weeks mens fashion soot and I’m going to go through the thought process / direction given on set to achieve the final image. Ignoring lighting, cameras, settings, all the technical stuff, this is plain and simple “getting the shot” once all the other stuff is done.
I do get a number of folk asking about this kind of thing, I guess it’s one of the parts that you can’t learn from just looking at a final image, you need to live the experience and moment to know “how” it went down. So here’s a sequence of image of Jamie, a new face from J’adore Model Agency in Manchester. Hair by Laura & Ria Kulik at The Hair Bank, grooming by Laura Gibb MUA and wardrobe styling by the rather gifted Paula McNamara.
What you see is the actual progression of the images from this section of the shoot. Nothing taken out or cropped etc. this is exactly how and what I shot. The final shot used is the one circled in blue, the others marked are the “got it” shots, the ones where I felt I got what it was I wanted.
So you’ll see the first idea was a full profile with the hands up in front of the face, I explain the “starting point” pose and get the first shot. From here I wanted a little more going on in the space in between Jamie and his arms so asked him to pick up the pendant around his neck and use that. You’ll see the pendant then drops to a perfect position to mirror his arms. This is close but I want to see more of his face, “Head to me Jamie” head turns to me and we are super close. He instinctively dropped his chin”Stronger eyes” BANG! Nailed it. Now the transition without missing a beat the energy is good and I know we’re golden right now. “Bite the pendant” his arm is out of frame, “Bring the right arm back” arms look messy, “switch hands” close, “Give it the bad boy rock star treatment” almost, “Head to me more” Slight zoom to crop “Attitude!” BANG. “Okay take a quick breather everyone, Jamie shake it out and let’s move into the next shot sequence”.
Here I’ll have a quick check on the monitor to confirm my feelings that we got it, quick sip of water/coffee and get moving on to our next shot.
So there you go, I won’t pretend it’s easy because it takes hustle and experience to get to this point but it may act as a little insight into how shoots go down for me and what the interaction can be like. It gets to a point where for me it’s instinctive, I don’t stop everything and think about how I’m going to make it perfect in one shot. I set it up close and then let things fall into place organically. For me it works.
Late Winter, that time of year where I spend a little too much time in my head. Time considering where to head this year, how to create something different, projects I want to work on and others I really want to drop. Time to think about business and time to think about my creative process. Usually around this time of year I end up considering the tools I use and whether it’s time for a new piece of equipment or time to simplify everything. I seem most connected with my M9 50mm combination, there are other cameras I really want to love that way but they simply don’t do it for me. Trust me I’ve tried. Simplify then ??
I’m drawn to the beauty of the imperfect, the delicate tiny flaws, the nuanced variations. I’ve been told to go shoot with my heart and everything will start falling into place.
All I can say is I’m trying, I still have some bridges to burn as such but I’m trying.
The photographs with this post are some that I feel are starting towards my appreciation of the imperfect reality in the moments of fiction we create on set.