Today’s Post by Joe Farace
Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman. — Ludwig van Beethoven
Some people like to play loud rock and roll music during a glamour shoot, I think, because it worked so well for David Hemmings in the 1966 film Blowup. But I don’t.
Let me start by saying for this blog, there is no “my way or the highway” approach to how I make photographs and that includes how I photograph models. If you haven’t already read my post Be Sure to talk to Your Portrait and Glamour Subjects, I suggest you read it before going any further. Or not, your choice. What follows is just my experience and my opinion, as in everything else you will read on this blog…
it’s always your choice.
Let’s get this out of the way, I like music. As I type this, I’m listening to Maine Public Classical on iTunes Internet Radio but it could just as easily been The Jazz Groove, that’s also on Internet Radio.
I know that many photographers like to play music during their portrait and glamour sessions but I do not. Here’s why:
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a glamour or even a headshot session, I don’t like playing music because I believe that music, no matter what kind, interferes with my communications with the subject. If we’re rocking out to Aerosmith, she might not be able to hear the kind of subtle posing directions I’m giving her that, I think, could make the difference between a nice portrait or a great one.
When I shot portraits in my friend Jack Dean’s studio, he used to pipe in music from his computer into his immense, custom built camera room. (You can see what his awesome camera room looked like in this post and that’s just half of it.) Its been a while since I shot in his studio and I can’t remember if the kind music he played and whether it was soft, loud or even if he even played it all the time.
For the record, no pun intended, I don’t want to deny that for some portrait subjects playing music during a session might help them relax. That’s why I might further suggest you read my post about working with inner and outer directed subjects: Photographing Different Kinds of Portrait Subjects. It’s possible that music might help some subjects more comfortable during a session and when it come to some sessions, especially intimate portraits, having a comfortable subject goes a long way to creating the best possible images. It may be that outer-directed subjects might find soothing classical music, Clair de lune by Claude Debussy comes to mind, can help them loosen any tensions they may have during a shoot. I don’t know for sure because I haven’t tired it but I will promise you that the next outer-directed subject I photograph will be listening to Debussy. I’ll let you know how that works out.
How I Made this portrait: I photographed this young model who has a delightful mix of retro and goth in the daylight studio belonging to another photographer/friend. There was no music playing to interfere with our communications. My Inspiration for this image was the 1943 movie Sherlock Holmes and The Spider Woman. Holmes was the inimitable Basil Rathbone, my favorite Sherlock, and she was portrayed in the movie by Gale Sondergaard.
The camera used for this available light portrait was a Contax 167MT. I recently purchased another 167MT that has a P5 battery grip using AA batteries providing faster fps and longer life than the standard AAA battery the camera typically uses. The lens was the Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1.8 in C/Y mount. Film was Kodak color negative and the exposure was unrecorded. The film was scanned using Kodak’s (former) Photo CD Process. (Look for a post next Friday with details on how I work with these files.) The PCD file was saved as a PSD file and converted to black and white using Silver Efex with a layer of Glamour Glow from Color Efex to add, well, some glamour.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, thank so very much.
My book Available Light Glamour Photography that is available from Amazon with new copies selling for $29.95 and used copies starting around twenty-five bucks as I write this. Kindle copies are $28.07 for those preferring a digital format.