Narnia: Taking photos inside a wardrobe
Near the end of October, Langford, BC's, communtiy theatre, Four Seasons Musical Theatre, opened their latest show; Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe.
They had gotten me to take promotional photos and headshots for them, and as it turned out I ended up shooting a fair bit during rehearsals as well (one of the reasons for that was that my son was in the play, so I was driving him there and picking him up anyway).
For the promo shots I brought in a white seamless backdrop and two strobes. I set up in the hallway of the middle school housing the theatre, and that gave my quite enough room to work in. The kids who played the siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were a treat to work with (as were, in fact, all the members of the cast and crew), and the assistant director, Heather Senkler, made sure the kids' poses and facial expressions were according to what the production team had envisioned.
The Narnia logo as used on an insert for the show's program.
The siblings: Edmund (David Underhill), Peter (Harrison Kwantes), Susan (Veronique Beaudet) and Lucy (Lily Cave).
When it came to the headshots, there was one thing I knew I did not want to do: traditional school portrait style photos. Not for this production. Instead I went for a slightly darker approach. Or maybe a bit more than 'slightly'. I lit up one side of a person's face while the other half remained in the shade. And I had them turn the shadow side towards the camera. The producers liked the idea right from the start, Narnia being a bit of a dark story and all. Some people were a bit taken aback when they saw their photo on the back of my camera, but when all was said done, and the photos had been printed in black and white and put on display in the lobby before each performance, I think they liked them (at least most of them did).
Brian Thibodeau played the part of Father Christmas.
Erika Pryer was one of the trees. The part of a tree may not seem like a glorious role, but these were no ordinary trees.
Deanna Callander choreographed the show.
One of my favourite parts was shooting the dress rehearsal. I was able to move freely around the auditorium, stand on the armrests of the seats, roll around in front of the stage, and even stand on the edge of the stage (only on the sides, as not to cause too much of a distraction to either the cast or director Terry Rowsell), without worrying about obstructing anyone's view.
Shooting a live theatre performance like this one is a challenge. The stage is sometimes gloomy and almost dark, while at other times it's ridiculously bright. And I won't even go into the different colours of the lights. I set the white balance to 3500K about two (very orange) minutes into the play, and if I'd pick out a random photo from that night, it was probably shot at ISO 2000, f/2.8, with a shutter speed of maybe 1/125.
I loved every minute of this. Being involved with a group like the one around Narnia is... energizing, for lack of a better word. The cast and crew were about 60 in all, which is a huge production for a community theatre, and they did a fantastic job of entertaining each and everyone who came to wander the woods of Narnia.
Aslan (Dwayne Gordon) and the White Witch (Faith Bergevin-Beilin).
Mrs. and Mr. Beaver (Kathie Hunwick and John Cave).
Lucy (Lily Cave) has some tea and biscuits at Mr. Tumnus' (Jonathan Hunwick) place.
Aslan (Dwayne Gordon) and Edmund (David Underhill) talk things over.
Edmund (David Underhill) is scrutinized by Fenris Ulf (Amy Rose Hamelin).
Father Christmas (Brian Thibodeau) brings Christmas back to Narnia.
The White Witch (Faith Bergevin-Beilin) and Aslan (Dwayne Gordon) engage in a heated discussion about the deep magic of Narnia.
The white stag (Katelyn MacKellen) prances around the forests of Narnia.
I told you the trees of Narnia were no ordinary trees.
Some of the people behind the scenes: Roger Traviss, Marie-Andrée Rowsell and Michelle Buck.
Canvas prints and website changes
A little over a month ago I sold two printed copies of one of my favourite shots - the black, young ram, soaring over a flock of white sheep. Funny enough, they sold only two days apart, one was shipped to Germany, the other one to Florida. Those were the first "fine art" print sales I've had through my website, and nothing has come through since then.
So it got me thinking (which is, most of the time, a good thing).
Perhaps my photos, which I've put up for print sale, weren't visible enough. And then I found out that some people had actually had a hard time finding the images they wanted to buy (because they're not included in the gallery portion of my website - my fault entirely), and that's never good for someone trying to sell products to others.
So that made me remember that I used to mess around with websites. For a living. For at least a decade.
And I started messing around with my website. I ended up mainly changing the front page, so now visitors get a mini-gallery of ten randomly selected images, some of which are clickable, taking the visitor straight to a sales page. Whether or not that will work to increase sales, only time will tell. At least the front page looks better than it did (and that's a fact, not an opinion).
I also made some changes to the print site, adding a gallery with photos not from Iceland, and I decided to add canvas prints to the mix.
Oh, and here are a few photos that I haven't shown you before, all of them available in the printshop:
A couple crossing a bridge over Reykjavík's pond.
Sunset from the top of Haleakala.
Horse grazing with Snæfellsjökull towering in the distance.
Mt. Baker seen from Bear Mountain on Vancouver Island.
A few street portraits
This spring I went with my friend and fellow photographer Carrie to downtown Victoria. We were each armed with a camera. Our intention was to walk up to complete strangers and ask to take photos of them. That's something that takes practice, believe it or not. We were there for over three hours and we didn't get a whole lot of shots. But that was okay, we were just practising.
Years ago (I'm allowed to use "years ago" because it's already been two years since I moved to Victoria to get some schooling) my idea of comfortable street photography was to use the longest lens I could get, and to act like a sniper of sorts. Sure, the photos turned out candid enough, but there was always something lacking. I switched to a shorter lens, but my comfort level was non-existent, so I either shot from the hip or very quickly pulled the camera up to my eye, shot and hoped that I got something useful.
As for approaching people and asking them for permission or their name... I don't think so. Way too shy for that.
And now it feels silly to think that way, because what are they going to do? Break my fingers, kick my knees and eat me alive? Hardly. The worst thing that happens is that they say no. In fact, most people say yes, especially if you approach them with a smile and introduce yourself before asking. Prepare yourself and be ready with an answer for questions like "What are you going to do with them?" or "Why do you want to take a photo of me?" Even better, have a business card to give them.
I admit that this walking up to a stranger to photograph them still doesn't come naturally to me. I have to take a few deep breaths before I muster up the courage to approach people. But I'm getting better at it, and it's fun. I get to know them a little bit (some are chattier than others), and often I send them a copy if they just send me an email (that's where the business card comes in handy).
Since Carrie and I took this trip downtown in May I didn't do this again until late August. I intend to not wait three months until I do this again.
Angela Filipovic. I just had to grab this red and blue opportunity.
This gentleman was willing to let me post his picture on my website, but without his name.
Marie Josee Levesque and Sabrina Clarin.
David Brumby.
Free Deresse.
Ines from Argentina.
Kim Suenaka.
Jim Young was a farmer in Quebec for many years.
Sarah on Market Square.
The very colourful Tajah Olson.