On the Peculiarity of Being Documented.

Documenting people in their work environment is something I have been doing a fair amount of recently. I do more than just follow them around, I try to blend in. Be the proverbial fly on the wall. Capture the moments.

To not get in the way, but still be a part of it all, is the real challenge. These attempts to bring a little understanding, maybe a little meaning to some event is never easy, but it is rarely unenjoyable. I'm truly lucky to be doing what I do!

The other evening Rachel followed me down to the river with her Nikon D40 and did an her photojournalistic best documenting my assignment. I was there to do the final shoot for National Parks Magazine. They needed a couple portraits for the opening spread in the upcoming Winter issue.

Now, I have always wondered if people I cover are really able to tune me out, forget I'm there. I always do my best to get in there without being in there. To become part of the scene without taking it over.

The other night I think I remember being aware of Rachel's camera shutter on maybe two occasions. She came back with about 40 images. I was so wrapped up in what I was supposed to be doing I completely forgot her photographic presence. Good to know this. Gives a little perspective.

At any rate, below are a few choice images from that shoot.

All photos by Rachel Klein-Kircher (copyright 2008).

Serene.

So I walk into the room and there she is. Chatting with her mom (or dad?)... by candle light. Didn't want to spoil the moment so I quietly turned around, found the camera, came back and silently tripped off a couple shots. So peaceful.

Look3. 2008. Charlottesville, VA.

"Three days of peace, love and photography." That's Look3. The Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, VA. That's where we were this past weekend. A beautiful town... great restaurants, good wine; warm, wonderful people and amazing (and some not-so-amazing) photography. Ran into some good friends and some random blogging acquaintances and shared stories and ideas and even talked the occasional technical crap. Rachel was very patient!

But enough about all that. Let's hear about the weekend! Alright.

The first day was pretty much getting acquainted with the surroundings. Where are all the galleries? (everywhere!) Where do we sign in? What are some good places to eat? Hey is that William Albert Allard? (yes it is!) Anyway, each night there was a big presentation of work and interview at the Paramount Theatre. First night was Mary Ellen Mark. Second night was Joel-Peter Witkin. Third, James Nachtwey. Liked the first. Loved the third...tolerated the second. I might blog on all that at a later date, but for now, let's get to the good stuff!

OK then, through various past circumstances and meetings and occasional blogging, I've had the great pleasure and privilege to meet and be mentored by David Alan Harvey. The man is, as they say, a force of nature. His energy knows no bounds! He will invite you to his home, tell you to send him your latest work for critique, run and/or take part in several workshops and all the while keep pace with the craziness that comes with being a photographer for Magnum and National Geographic.

Well, Charlottesville is a small place, especially the old town area, and sure enough we run into Dave and are invited to the house he's staying at for an after-show party and well...yeah! Some things will have to remain private, but suffice it to say a killer time was had by all! Here are a few photos from that night and the weekend in general.

David Alan Harvey, shooting like mad!

David and Cristina

Sean Gallagher (left), some random dude (right).

William Albert Allard.

Alex Chadwick of NPR interviews Mary Ellen Mark.

David introducing The EPF Essays.

Rachel's Jack on the rocks!

Rachel with tea bag.

Rachel listening to my pal Panos Skoulidas.

Panos.

My Accountant...Yet Again!

A couple more from the ongoing series:

My Accountant.

Funky.

Scene Changer.

Let's have another go at trying to spice up a somewhat dull scene. To keep it simple we'll use similar colored gels as before. Also we're not posing anybody. Have to work with what's happening naturally. OK, to start with we have Rachel up in the garret preparing to do taxes. (Fun!) Anyway, this is pretty much a straight forward shot. This is how the space normally looks. Ugly, incandescent, overhead lights.

So, two things, no wait... three things right off the bat. 1) Underexpose the scene by about a stop. 2) Add a flash at about model's eye level, off to one side. 3) Get down low to eliminate distracting background clutter.

OK, this is pretty interesting. Looks like maybe the sun is coming in from a side window (it's not!).

Next, let's add another flash. Splash it against the back wall with a purple/bluish gel to give it maybe a little flair. Same general perspective, throw in a vertical shot, maybe a foreground element or two and well not such a boring setting after all!

Shadows.

In 'Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors' Carl Sagan describes a tremendous event: "An immense mass of gas and dust is swiftly collapsing under its own weight, spinning ever faster, transforming itself from a turbulent, chaotic cloud into what seems to be a distinct, orderly thin disk. Its exact center smolders a dull, cherry red. Watch from on high, above the disk, for a hundred million years and you will see the central mass grow whiter and more brilliant, until, after a couple abortive and incomplete attempts, it bursts into radiance, a sustained thermonuclear fire. The Sun is born." And roughly 5 billion years later this "sustained thermonuclear fire" shines in through my venetian blinded window and allows me to make a funky photograph!

So how did we light that portrait of Rachel?

As you saw in the "studio" shot, we were dealing with a pretty dull looking white wall and seriously ugly light. Weak incandescent bulbs in two places in the ceiling and a big window letting in far too much daylight. So first thing is we close the window shades and turn off the lights. Well, that is, after we completed our set up! Which consisted of just two flashes, a snoot, a reflector, a couple gels, and a house plant. (You get it now, don't you Rob?) Here's the first or main flash. Notice the amber gel on it. Now here it is again with the home made snoot in place. A snoot is simply a way to focus the light beam from wide to narrow. That way we can pick and choose what is lit... in this case Rachel's lovely visage. Here's our second or background flash. Notice the blue gel attached. Remember the blue background?

Remember also the dark patterns in the blue background? Well that's where the house plant comes in. You shoot the flash through the plants leaves, et voila! Cool, weird patterns on wall. And that's pretty much it! Except I sort of lied about only two flashes in use. There was actually a third. Here it is. The flash atop the camera put off just enough light to trigger the two other flashes, but not enough to add any light on our model. And here's the shot one more time:

Making the best of the situation.

OK... here's our "studio."

Ugh! A bit of a challenge, yes? Can we make a decent portrait in this setting?

Let's see...

I think we can!

Exactly how we did it is something I will discuss in a future post. For now, take heart knowing that a dull setting doesn't necessarily translate into a dull photograph.