Tagged: environmental portraits
Portraits: Marcus
Photographing theatre producer Marcus Bernard was my second attempt at an environmental portrait and this time the weather was on my side.
After our initial chat, we decided to shoot at the the Bunker Theatre, which has sadly since closed. I made a visit a few days before to check the light and agreed on a time to meet up.
The light, bright and sharp, was just the way I like it. I shot Marcus against the light at the entrance at first before heading indoors. We photographed in the bar, the back office and the auditorium itself, but my favourite shot was from the office: the mixture of ambient and practical lighting, along with the clutter and theatre paraphernalia within the room, really worked for me.
Later, Marcus requested one of the images taken outside, which I was happy to provide. I learned a lot about light in this session and I would love to further experiment with this in future.
Portraits: Daniel
Daniel, an actor, writer and director, was one of the first people I approached to photograph in an environmental portrait.
I had been fascinated for some time about Arnold Newman‘s environmental portraits, as well as the set design set-ups in some of Annie Leibowitz‘s portraiture, so I set about approaching people who interested me in film, theatre and journalism to photograph in this way. Daniel was one of the first to respond.
After an initial meeting and conversation about his work, we decided to take the photograph outside the Royal Court Theatre stage door. I visited the theatre on days before to work out when the best light would hit and we agreed on a time to meet.
The big day came… and it was raining. It was cloudy and cold. All my predictions and preparations had gone out of the window. Daniel and I met, got the permission of the Royal Court to take the photo and I got to work quickly.
Maybe a touch too quickly: I raced through a number of set-ups with an aim to get us away from the location as soon as possible without getting soaked. Maybe I should have taken a little more time on some different set-ups, or tried a more sheltered location nearby? But, this was my first attempt and I was learning. And I was up for trying again.
Faces and spaces
“There’s nothing more interesting than the landscape of the human face…” Irvin Kershner.
Portraits, in magazines, newspapers and galleries, have always fascinated me. Representing and interpreting a personality without words has always been a great skill.
I love taking photographs of people, but have done very little formal posed work until now. While I’ve enjoyed taking portraits, I have become more interested in making environmental portraits, like those of Arnold Newman: where somebody is photographed is integral to who they are.
So far, I’ve attempted to capture people in spaces that are important to them. In time, I hope that I can capture a person as much with light, speed and exposure as much as with the space that surrounds them.
Burning Details 
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