Sax
Shot in the college bursar"s private chambers. I lit the shot with a single camera flash from the outside. It seems most of the boys were outside watching....
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Shot in the college bursar"s private chambers. I lit the shot with a single camera flash from the outside. It seems most of the boys were outside watching. Every time the flash went off I heard a cheer.
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Aug, 2016Views
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Awards
Action Award
Hero Award
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Genius
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
The picture was a concept shot specifically for poster submission. Originally the idea was a night shot on the street by a street lamp. We needed to borrow the Sax from her friend at Oxford college. The college is very old and has amazing architecture. On arriving, I could clearly see the shot I wanted but it was a ground floor room and was occupied by the Bursar at the time. After some negotiating and pleading he let us have the room for an hour. I think he was a photographer himself.Time
It was actually a cold November's early evening, about 5.30pm. Those windows are not double glazed and I needed to open the bottom section for the flash wiring.Lighting
Not really expecting to use flash on this shoot, I only had 2 on camera flash units with me in the bag, but that was enough. Only one source of light should ever be dominant on a picture like this. the walls were white so I knew I would get some fill. I had a light stand in the car and elevated it to about 8 feet outside the window. I tapped the flash to it and ran the trigger line through the bottom of the window to the hotshoe on the camera. 1 wire was not enough so I used an extension. The problem with that, it can slow the syncing between the camera and flash, so I shot it at 1/15th which helped a little with fill. The college was in full swing at the time and as I shot this, they were leaving the college. A crowd of young men gathered outside the window, and cheered each time the flash went off. My model was so professional, she kept the pose and adjusted herself and angle as I would request after each exposure. This was shot on Ilford 100ASA film pushed to 200ASA and developed in Microfen. So I had no way of knowing if it worked until much later. Its so much easier these days.Equipment
I forget the make of the flash I used. I set it on half power, took a meter reading for highlites and mid range and went for it. At the time I was using a Canon F1, Bowens tripod, and the lens was a 35mm F2 Canon breach lock.Inspiration
I was given the opportunity to submit images for poster production early in my career and I'm still grateful to Athena for that. However, I had talked a gallery into hanging my work and suddenly realized I was a number of shots short with a week to framing. I shot more poster quality pictures in that one month than in any month since. The exhibition was a success, I ended up meeting my hero Helmut Newton and had 3 pictures accepted by Athena in the same month.Editing
The film was developed in high definition developer Microfen. Pushing the film one stop would increase the contrast a little too. The shot you see here was adjusted slightly in Photoshop but the original was painstakingly printed again and again in my darkroom.In my camera bag
These days, i do a lot of food photography, it pays the bills. I now have EOS cameras and I've noticed most of my shots end up being about 105mm with a canon 75-200 zoom macro. When people shooting in a studio, I like the 85mm 1.8 and I use the standard 50mm often too. Most people seem to underestimate the 50, but it gives a realistic view of the world.Feedback
Planning. Often plans end up going in a slightly different direction, as did this shot. Even so, the general concept and feel of it was shot in my head long before we arrived at the location. Close your eyes and dream of the picture you would like to see in a gallery or magazine. I like to work backwards. First i see the end shot (you may need to be a little flexible once on location). Then comes the location, time of day, medium, model, date, equipment to take, gas in the car and pet the cat before i leave. The one important piece of advice I received from Helmut Newton; this kind of picture for the purpose of a poster, must have sustainability. You must be able to see it everyday, perhaps for years and still like it and perhaps see some facet you did not notice before. As a rule, before submitting any shot to a poster company, i would print it 20x16 and hang it in the hallway for a month. If after about 4 weeks I still liked it, i would submit it. Thats what Newton did so its been ok for me.
