A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

March 31, 2011

Event shoots

Filed under: General photography,Rochester Civic Theatre — Tony Drumm @ 8:37 pm

Some great shooting these past couple weeks. I shot the dancers in Children’s Dance Theatre’s production of Pinocchio one Saturday then show photos for RCT’s Beauty and the Beast the next. I really do enjoy photographing performance artists, young and old. The dance photos were solos and groups, and my goal there was to illuminate them in a way that pulled them from the background in something of a spotlight look.

The B and the B show photos were the typical posed shots from various scenes of the show I’ve discussed here before. But every show is different and has some different characteristics that affect me as photographer.

Often, it’s cool gel’d lighting that I just love shooting. There was some of that for this show, but that’s not what grabbed me this time. The scenes in Belle’s village take place in front of painted drops like this one. Those painted backgrounds along with the rich, colorful costumes bring to mind an overall painted look.

Once in Lightroom, I started working a few of the images to give them a smoother feel with reduced detail. Somehow, for me, it comes alive in a different way.

These small versions don’t show this detail – or lack of it! But you can sort of get the idea. It’s also very apparent why I like photographing these scenes. Greg, the director, tells the actors the particular scene and moment – and I’m always amazed they know exactly what he means given the short description he uses. They arrange themselves, we move people around a bit for the photo, mostly moving them closer together.

Then they pose themselves usually with very little input. I’d love to claim I posed the shot above. Yes, I may have moved them a bit and moved myself to frame the image I wanted. But the looks, the eyes, the expressions – they become their roles even for a still photo.

The shots in the Beast’s castle were great, too, with no lack of color. The castle itself was rather muted making the colorful people stand out nicely.

But I keep coming back to these painted background photos. They pull me and make me ask myself how I can use what’s there and accentuate what I’m seeing, make the reality more like what I see in my mind. Lightroom provides a good start, but I’ll probably play in the Photoshop sandbox a bit.

I was already seeing the possibilities during the shoot, there in front of me and on the camera’s LCD. A stage, a set of stage lights, costumes, a set. The same collection of ingredients, yet every show says something different. A camera and lens, a bit of skill, a little luck, and the right light. A story can unfold in a still photo. It’s really remarkable and what keeps me passionate about this art form.

March 21, 2011

RCT’s 60th Season – and my posters

Filed under: Rochester Civic Theatre — Tony Drumm @ 6:13 pm

For the past several years, I’ve had the pleasure of creating the show posters for Rochester Civic Theatre. They are displayed in the lobby, and the artwork is used in the season brochure and, generally, for ads. This is a collaborative effort with Greg Miller, artistic director at the theatre, providing small sketches showing the rough concept. For the most part, my posters are photo-based, although I’ve strayed into more graphic realms now and then. But there’s always at least one photo somewhere in the mix.

The season and the posters are unveiled at the opening of their traditional spring musical. Disney’s Beauty and the Beastopened last Friday marking the announcement of RCT’s 60th season. The new season shows are kept secret until the announcement, so I can’t really show off my posters before then. (BTW, tickets for Beauty are going fast, so order yours now!)

I fortunately knew the season shows last autumn which allowed me to grab a headstone shot before the ground was covered in the usual all-winter-long snow. We can finally see grass again in our yard! I spend a lot of time in Photoshop working on these, but I didn’t really want to try removing two or three feet of snow and inserting grass if I could avoid it.

The concept for this poster was pretty simple. In fact, the working sketch I drew as Greg didn’t get to it. A young woman, her beau, and her father form the basis of the show with an underlying baseball theme. I struggled with making that image stand out until I hit on this magazine cover idea. Sometimes, you see something and it just hits you – Aha! Then it was a matter of working the tag line, credits, and opening date into the image in a way that suggests a magazine cover.

White Christmas was the easiest poster. The show is coming back for an encore after having a huge sell-out crowd last December. We’re reusing the poster from last season with the “back by popular demand” addition. I spent more time on it than I really had to, but I wanted this add-on to be more than just a simple text box. Trying to add a little class to it.

I still remember getting my car stuck when I was out shooting the box in the snow last year. I sort of think of that whenever I see this image. For some reason.

This poster has a more involved story than the others. Although I had the headstone image in the bag at the time, the first other shot I did was this background which I took in a meadow at Yosemite in January. I specifically was looking for a shot that would work while I was there, and came home with quite a collection of shots I probably otherwise would not have taken.

Then there was the wardrobe. Where to find a decent wardrobe to shoot which had the right look and size? I even checked some of the stock photo sites, but a straight on shot is rare. I finally decided to see what I could manage drawing the wardrobe myself. I did my best to channel Bert Monroy and Corey Barker who do terrific computer illustration work.

While I didn’t draw the outside of the doors (they’re very ornate, I’m sure!), I did create side pillars with several levels and ornaments. They’re right back there behind the doors.

A few years ago, one of the sketches Greg made had this leg and a gun with Chicago in bold letters. Before I had a chance to start working on it, he informed me, no, we can’t obtain the rights to the show. At least once more since then, they thought it was a go but turned out not.

When I heard Chicagowas on the slate for 2012, my reaction was, “really?” Are we sure? Yes. The first version of this poster had the title along the top, but we opted for more leg! Photoshop was used to enhance this image, but the photo involved three flashes with three different gels. I just love using gels.

This was a fun photo to shoot. Yes, the pillar is a stage prop, but trust me, it’s heavy! I was hoping Brad could keep it from crushing the rest of the gang before I was done and had the shot I wanted. That’s Greg on the left.

There you have it, the shows for season 60 and the product of my work over the past couple months. I use Photoshop regularly, but working on these posters always expands my knowledge of the tool and my comfort using it along with my Wacom tablet. It also increasingly taxes the ability of my main computer where I’m finding I really need to upgrade. But we work with what we have.

March 11, 2011

Back to the Future

Filed under: General photography — Tony Drumm @ 7:55 pm

We’ve been working through our old slides doing the editing we should have done years ago and sending the keepers off to be scanned. One set has been sent, scanned, and returned. Many more yellow boxes remain. As much as I like to think I have an eye for photography, I know Lynne has one, too. I’ve studied photography for many years and continue to do so, but Lynne’s ability is innate. I’m in the shot above, one Lynne took as we raised the mast of a friend’s sailboat some time in the early 1980s. The composition was totally spontaneous – it just was there for the taking. But Lynne managed to see it, frame it, and take it. It’s one of my favorites of all her shots. And it’s fun to revisit these photos and the memories that surround them.

I see other shots that remind me of the other interests and activities that I’ve pursued. Who I was and who I am. Flying was something I loved and shared with my family. So taking a set-up shot like this was bound to happen some time, with my daughter pretending to be pilot. I thought having the sectional chart laid out in her lap added a nice touch.

 

I also look back at some of my favorite shots and evaluate my photography skills. I’ve grown – a lot – since then. But, I’m happy to see shots I still consider pretty good. Given the equipment of the time, my budget, and so on, I think I did okay. I’ve always loved catching people in the moment, just enjoying life. Unaware or at least ignoring the camera. Posed shots can be great, but there’s something special about finding and shooting these moments.

Our children make terrific subjects. Kids, especially young children, don’t really care about cameras. Don’t care about a lot of things. We can catch them just being themselves, and these shots make fantastic memories. Sigh – my little girl just celebrated her 30th birthday. If you have young children, don’t let this time slip away without a few photos. Digging through them has been a great experience.

Then, I find shots like this and remember what I did with it back in the day. Having a color darkroom was fun, but it was also a great learning experience. I learned about primary and complementary colors, about dodging and burning, about how one could take the image from a camera and make it into something entirely different.

What we think of as photoshopping an image, you see, is not something new. It’s easier today, and we have Ctrl-Z to undo, but there was a ton of artistic license available for those who sought it out before there were personal computers or digital imaging. When I found the cartwheel image, I remembered what I had done in the darkroom. The color and motion struck me, so I built a composite image like you see here.

I don’t know what became of that print, so I’ve duplicated it here using Photoshop. I’m not all that certain that what I did in Photoshop was entirely easier than what I did for my Cibachrome print. But, I could see what I was doing which wasn’t the case printing on photo paper. And I didn’t have to wait for the processing – which took place inside a drum (no darkroom lights allowed when doing color). The end result was not much different than you see here, though.

I like that. I like not only knowing this was possible back then but knowing I did it. I won a first place award at a local photography contest for a print I made using compositing techniques. Not all photography-based art happens in the camera. It’s true today, and it was true 30 years ago. I suspect, it was true since the dawn of photography. And that’s not just okay, it’s terrific. Art unbounded.

March 5, 2011

Yosemite in Winter

Filed under: Beautiful Earth,General photography — Tony Drumm @ 7:06 pm

I had the great fortune to visit Yosemite National Park in California in January. I enjoy our great national parks, but this was my first visit to Yosemite. Walking in the footsteps of John Muir, seeing this fabulous valley, and turning my camera on this beauty to try capturing some of the awe I felt was amazing.

I was there to attend the first session of Moose Peterson’s final season of Digital Landscape Workshop Series. Moose is an incredible wildlife photographer who’s landscape shots are also breathtaking. He has a few friends who aren’t too shabby, like Joe McNally, who attend DLWS as instructors. For this event, Joe wasn’t available and RC Concepcion filled in. I’ve known RC from his work at Kelby Media (Kelby Training, NAPP, Photoshop User TV, etc.), and I sort of met him at Photoshop World in September. But he is a hoot to hang around, especially when you both have cameras.

Also filling the instructor ranks was Kevin Dobler. I met Kevin and Moose in Hawaii two years ago along with Joe and Laurie Excell, when I attended the DLWS in Kauai. That event provided me a huge photography boost just from the inspiration and photo zen. I absorbed something there, for sure, so having a chance to attend another DLWS, this time at a park I’ve wanted to visit for years, was great. I had forgotten Kevin is a pilot and works for Cessna. He recently flew to Yellowstone and captured some amazing in-flight shots which he shared with us.

But we were there to shoot the scenery in Yosemite. It doesn’t hurt that this is essentially Moose’s backyard. He lives nearby in the Sierras and knows this area – and its history – inside and out. We stayed in the lodge that’s right in the park. You walk out of your room and look around and think, “this is not real – it can’t be.” There’s Half Dome nearby, and you can see Yosemite Falls from the doorways of many of the rooms. My room faced south, so I had to take a few steps to see the falls.

You never know what to expect in the mountains in January. There had been some large storms in December, but it was dry during my stay. The earlier snowfall provided lots of good moisture to feed the waterfalls around the valley, though. We also happened to be there during the full moon. I’m sure that factored into the schedule. We had a fun moonlight shoot, and we later watched the moon rise from Tunnel View.

From there, you have a beautiful view of El Capitan and Half Dome. As the moon rose and I snapped away, I suddenly noticed the color. It was staggering. I’m not sure I’ve seen such a magenta sky, and there it was all around the rising moon. This and many other shots might make great black and white photos. I think of the work of Ansel Adams whose Yosemite photos have become iconic. But the colors. How could I rob my photos of the colors on display?

There was the cool blue of the moonlight shots. There was the magenta sky, and the bright red that pulls your eye to Moose Peterson, standing in the meadow. And there was a rainbow in the morning sun nearly surrounding the upper Yosemite Falls as the wind whipped the water into a great mist.

Yes, I have some nice black and whites with the textures of thousands of years of erosion on ancient granite born deep under the crust of the earth. But it’s the colors that I witnessed and captured that I’ll remember. And those colors I’ve chosen – for now at least – to preserve in the majority of my photographs.

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