Angelina in the rain
Nov, 2020Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken locally in the city I now call home which is Basel in Switzerland. We wanted to create something that could look like it was taken in a metropolitan city like New York but in Basel there are very few ultra modern buildings to create this type of look. This particular area I can see from my apartment but had never thought about shooting there until now.Time
I remember the weather being so bad we were shooting in the studio most of the day. At around 3pm we saw the storm clouds starting to break and thought this was our chance to shoot out in the streets like we had originally intended. 3pm in early October isn’t the best light to shoot in but we knew we could make it work.Lighting
We went out just after a storm, where the sunlight is in direct contrast with the dark clouds and light from the storm that had just passed. Working in direct sunlight has its challenges but Angelina has amazing eyes so the brighter the conditions the more her eye colour pops in photos. I had positioned her at a specific angle so that she was being lit by the sun but that section of the building remained dark aside from the cooler backlight from the storm clouds that were behind her. This gave a her and her hair a much warmer tone than the rest of the composition.Equipment
This was shot handheld using a Canon R5 and 85mm F1.2L wide open for this shot.Inspiration
I’m originally from London but I moved to Switzerland 5 years ago and the Swiss landscape and old city streets are a constant source of inspiration. Typically I go back to London either for work or a visit every few weeks as it’s only a short flight away but last year with the pandemic I haven’t been back since January 2020. I wanted to create something in this photo that reminded me of my life in a big metropolitan city. Where things aren’t completely perfect, it can feel gritty, busy and the people can be cold. The lack of nature, endless buildings and constant threat of rain just add to what on the surface looks like a miserable experience. But there’s something about the city that pulls us back, where that chaos adds something we can’t explain, where people are a lot warmer and more approachable than they look on the surface. Until I can travel back all I have is the nostalgia of how life in London made me feel and that’s my inspiration.Editing
When I’m shooting on location in natural light I shoot specifically for how I like to process the images afterwards so usually shoot slightly underexposed and wide open. In post I like to bring up shadows and blacks a little to crush them giving the photo a less realistic and stylised feel. I then bring the highlights and whites down to flatten the contrast. I make slight changes to the colour temperature to warm the image up especially in this case where I wanted to make sure Angelina felt warm against the cold background then finally I reduce the saturation in each colour channel until I get to the tones that I like.In my camera bag
It depends on the shoot as like many photographers I have way too much camera gear but when I’m shooting on location like in this shot. Always in my camera bag is typically a Canon R5 with a Peak Design Clutch, EF 85mm F1.2Lii and a EF 35mm F1.4L, a Hoya Variable ND filter and ColourChecker Passport. Normally I’ll have my iPad Pro and a LaCie Rugged Drive as well so I can check and back up the photos whilst on the shoot. And then I’ll normally when needed have a Peak Design Carbon Tripod, a 5in1 reflector, a Manfrotto nano stand and a Jinbei DC-600 with either a Stripbox or a small octabox. And a GoPro Hero7 with a Rode Mic attached if I’m doing some behind the scenes video of the shoot.Feedback
When shooting with people as the subject the most important thing is to try and keep the energy going. if that means having to sacrifice something that isn’t technically perfect because the flow that you’re in feels right then do it. The last thing you want to do is ignore your the person in front of your camera because you’re trying to find a particular setting. With experience you start to make the technical changes in camera or with lighting without having to think about it so much so that you’re giving your subject the attention they need. That attention is extremely important, because by building that rapport with the people I work with it shows is how they pose, their expressions their general attitude on the shoot. I want to make sure that at the end of the shoot we all feel like we worked hard, created something incredible but more than anything else we had a lot of fun doing it.
