Merry blah, blah…

It’s the time to forget about lenses, cameras, flashcards, technique, clients, turnover, profit, the credit crunch, banks, sales, forecasts, mortgages… and all the other stuff which clogs up the enjoyment of life.

Back with some new posts very soon… It’s time for a Merry Christmas!!

The reality of getting a result

Anybody with the slightest interest in photography, the media, or how the whole crazy world of how publicity operates, has probably seen behind the scenes clips of personalities (I can’t bring myself to say celebrities) being shot for magazines or ad campaigns. The final results are glossy, altered-out-of-sight images which don’t tell anything like the story of their creation. These commissions come in all shapes and sizes and depending on the subject can last a few days, or 10 minutes. 

A middle of the road example of how a job like that can play out was a task I was handed a little while ago to shoot pop star Duncan James, formerly of the boy band BLUE, for SEAT UK PR use. He was about to be unveiled as the new leading man in CHICAGO in the West End and my brief was to shoot some lifestyle shots of Duncan blasting around town in his company SEAT Leon in his position as a kind of ‘brand ambassador’. Unfortunately, the smallest amount of media exposure these days tends to get people believing their own hype, so naturally I feared the worst, expecting a sulky monster who didn’t want to know. What I found was a nice guy who was keen to please, which was just as well as the window of opportunity for photography was small at best.

My way of working is to travel pretty light compared to most photographers. I hate zooms, so only use prime lenses, and only a normal job will pack a 300/2.8, 200/2.8, 50/1.8, 24/2.8 and a fisheye for occasional use. I love Canon’s original 5D body because it’s rock solid, quiet, functional and a great file size for my work (almost 40MB). On more complicated people shoots I’ll take Elinchrom strobes and hot lights, but that’s pretty much it. I’m never first to get new gear, I see it through other photographers for ages before I buy. It’s always amusing to see people who buy the newest gadgets thinking it will transform their work, only to find that a few grand later it all looks the same.

The day started by meeting at his flat near Maida Vale, West London. Following a quick run through the ideas with his PR girl, who was obviously paid to obstruct and not smile, it was into the car with Duncan driving and me next to him. We started shooting right from the start as he drove to Little Venice for a roadside set-up shot. The technical aspect of the first few shots was tricky because I wanted a feeling of speed and movement in the pictures, so this meant a very wide lens (16mm) and a slow shutter speed (20th sec) to generate the feeling of movement. It’s always good to try and get away from something standard within a set of shots, so in this case I tried to show Duncan’s face in the rear-view mirror, but still keeping the SEAT logo visible on the steering wheel as he weaved in and out of traffic. Any photographer will know that this approach can be a hit/miss affair but the frames which work look nice.

I couldn’t experiment as much as I wanted because we had maybe 3-4 minutes to get the first shots in the bag. On arrival in Little Venice we parked by the canal and Duncan hopped out, doing his pop star thing by the front of the car. Once again the reality is that this is a public road, so you’re constantly framing the picture and then dodging a bus, or cab – it’s central London, so nobody gives you time or space. Another 5 minute slot to get a couple of set-ups and then we’re off again to a more open location, near Hyde Park. The next shot I wanted was him relaxing in the car, which took only a couple of mins as he was pretty relaxed. SEAT UK have always been open-minded on photography and I grab the chance to shoot in black and white whenever they let me. Sometimes it’s not appropriate, but on this occasion most of the material worked far better in mono because a person was the crux of the job, not something scenic or mechanical. 

The stats are pretty interesting I think. I’d been with him for under an hour, shot about 40 frames (15 of which were used by SEAT for PR availability) and we’d got through the brief without making much of hole in anybody’s day. So I guess the point is that in most of these cases you have no time to re-shoot, you need to hone your ability to chat to somebody you don’t know (while you work) and you can’t expect help – you’re on your own. Just don’t try and joke with the PR girl, they’re not on the same planet as you and I…