I shot two shows in the past few days. Rochester Civic Theatre was presenting The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as I’ve discussed in other posts. It was interesting to shoot and perhaps a bit more challenging than I expected. The costumes were colorful and interesting as was much of the lighting. But there seemed to be more scenes in which, from the camera’s point of view, the players and the backgrounds blended in a way that makes the actors not pop.

This is a case of the difference between our eyes and the camera’s sensor. Watching the live performance, this wasn’t an issue. Maybe it’s the sensor. Perhaps it’s motion. In shooting some basketball games recently, it’s been interesting to notice that shots with the ball on the ground in mid-dribble, the brain sees this and interprets the ball as lying still and motionless on the ground. An otherwise fantastic action shot becomes instantly devoid of energy. It’s really quite remarkable and easy to see when viewing two images taken in quick succession where the main difference is the position of the ball in the shot.

We can forget how our brain works with our eyes to create an image. Our brain interprets a 3D, live world very differently from a static photograph. As photographers, we have to think about this a lot. How to make the viewer see what we saw. An interesting aspect of this affects (especially) new photographers. When you look through the viewfinder, you will focus your attention on the subject. But in the flat, 2D photograph, things that your brain didn’t register as you snapped the shutter will be there distracting the viewer from your subject. The tree growing out of someone’s head. The smashed soda can on the ground. The other people standing behind the subject. I tell people to look around the entire view after composing the image for things like this. Still, even a seasoned photographer can fall into this trap in the excitement to get the shot.

With digital photography, we have an easier time of producing a photograph that tells the story we want. In darkroom days, we used many of the same techniques, but it was more work – and certainly more time consuming.

As tools improve, we can spend more of our time finding new ways to bring creativity to our art. We can try more ideas, and we’re not as invested in a particular choice. Undo becomes our friend.

At Riverland Community College, I shot their production of Ring Round the Moon. This was quite a contrast to the Narnia show – a single box set, period costumes, more conventional lighting.

More a story of love and trickery, there is plenty of emotion on stage to try to capture in my photos.

Having shot three shows there this season, it’s fun to see the student actors that I recognize from earlier performances. Unlike RCT, where I spend so much time and know so many of the “regulars,” at Riverland I’m still learning the faces. But it’s fun to see a familiar face like Penny in the wheelchair. When she appeared on stage, I was asking myself, is that really Penny? Yep.

This was probably one of my favorite shots of the night. We get the sense of action and motion. And all I had to do was to grab the shot! The expressions, the arms, the pieces of ripped-up money. Makes me grin.

When the show was over in Austin, I walked out to my car to find that, although the snow had seemed to end earlier, it was back. I90 was sort of a mess. But I managed to make it home without incident!

As RCT’s production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe grows closer, it was time to shoot some promotional shots for ads. When I arrived, Mari was working on the lion’s make-up. It’s fun to watch. Last August for the volunteer party, I donned Charlie Chaplin’s tramp attire, and Lynne did some eye make-up on me. I have to say, it was strange having that make-up applied. I guess folks must get used to it!

The promo shots need to happen well before opening, but this usually means costumes and sets are still being created. We need enough costumes for the principal actors to have at least one available. Sets – well, those are generally starting to come together, but just. I try to be extra vigilant about what is behind the actors and adjust my shooting angles to work with what we have.

These shots worked out nicely in that the background was mostly much darker than the subjects. A little touching up in Lightroom also helps.

Greg wanted individual shots of the White Witch and Aslan, the lion. Lisa’s expression and pose is priceless!

I went in pretty tight on Ted. This shows off the great job Mari did on his make-up. I was pleased to see the great costumes and all the color. I’m looking forward to shooting the show photos.

You can purchase tickets now. It should be a terrific show!

Rochester Civic Theatre’s next production, well into rehearsals now, is The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. This is the C.S. Lewis tale about a mythical land called Narnia. While I’m certainly familiar with the name, and I knew there is a Lion in it (yes, it’s right there in the title), I’ve never read the book. Lynne and I just saw the movie recently after recording it on our DVR. I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays on the stage.

I was down to the theatre a week ago to shoot head shots. There’s a fairly large cast. Word was that the auditions brought out tons of actors which is great. The head shot shoot went well, and everyone who needed a new head shot was there! The young man above has a name I can easily remember – Tony! His pose was all him, and I think it turned out great.

Some folks love having their photos taken. Others are more reluctant. I can understand that. I’m a whole lot more comfortable on my regular side of the camera, although I’m getting better at just letting go and relaxing when someone takes my photo. I think maybe it’s because of my own shooting. Who knows?

Anyway, Carl wasn’t jumping up and down to have his photo shot, but as soon as I took it, I knew it was going to be just fine. I think his face shows lots of character.

There are others whom the camera loves. I’ve shot Ellie a few times and I don’t think I have a less than great photo of her. Her eyes really shine, really draw you in.

Eyes are important in these head shots and are often the first thing you see, where the viewers eyes go. But sometimes it’s a smile like Mackenzie’s. A great smile and hair that wraps around and frames her face.

That’s the thing about shooting people, and why, more and more, I love it. Every face is different, every shot is different. Personalities and emotion, life, age, all those things can come out on a little two dimensional photograph.

White Christmas is one of those big musicals from the era when the American musical was an event more than just a story set to music. There are big song and dance numbers and a plot of sorts to hold it all together. You really attend a show like this, I think, to enjoy the musical performances. Not for the poignancy of Home Games, for instance.

As a Christmas show, it works really well. Folks are looking for good family entertainment in December as the Minnesota winter sets in. Last year, it was accompanied by tons of snow. This year for the reprise, not so much!

The lights and costumes provide lots of color to work with when photographing the show. But, the scale of the numbers means there are lots of shots you want to make really wide. Try to gather it all in. But that’s hard to do effectively. I’m torn – I want to show the scope of the numbers, but I also want to zoom in and focus on the main players. I want to show sisters Betty and Judy in their nightclub setting, and also show them up close and personal.

I just end up shooting them both ways. I think it works. See what I mean about the color? Hard to take a bad photo here.

There are plenty of fun moments, too. Can’t go wrong with having the guys do the Sisters number!

Some of the numbers are intimate which makes for interesting photos. I love the glance over the shoulder. A shot like this doesn’t need the context of the show. It works on its own telling its own story. If I can find one or two photos like this in a show shoot, I’m happy. You can see this moment still happens in a “club” with patrons, yet it’s still about these two people. It’s intimate in spite of the setting. The stage lighting helps for sure.

Yes, the two lovers get together in the end. Did I spoil it for you? I don’t think so. I regard shots like this as classic for this sort of story. Still, you need to make sure it looks right and meets the expectations. I think it’s a good photo and kind of nice. But the one above is the more interesting photo to me.

There are a couple huge numbers at the conclusion of the show. Back to the problem of capturing the size and scope of it. The costumes and all that red help. It gives some visual interest that pulls you in a bit. Trying to shoot it with drab costumes would be tougher.

As RCT prepares for the final weekend of the show, I hear it’s sold out for all four performances (counting the one happening as I write this). That’s incredible! It’s terrific for the theatre, it’s great for the cast and crew and orchestra who love performing in front of big crowds. And it’s great for the audiences. Big audiences are fun to be a part of, and live theatre is a treat. The calibre of our local performers really shines in a show like this.

Me? I’m just a photographer doing what I love and sharing it with whoever happens upon this modest blog!

It’s been a couple weeks since my last post. There have been plenty of happenings around here, and I’ve been able to do some shooting, too. Did a nice head-shot portrait session with Lisa. I’m still working on editing the shots, but I’m happy with the results so far. I think Lisa will be, also. She looks great and has a wonderful smile.

I shot a few photos using more of a glamour lighting setup. It’s interesting how much that changes the look.

On Tuesday, I shot Riverland Community College’s latest production, Be Aggressive. It’s a show about adolescence and loss and cheer-leading. Shooting during a performance, there are some fine points to the story that I’m sure I miss since my focus is more on the visual part of the show. Still, I enjoyed the show and its poignancy.

Looking through my shots, I noticed that the vast majority of the scenes involve exactly two people. There are a few with one or three, and the group cheer-leading scenes. But most of the play concerns interactions of two people – friends, sisters, father/daughter, a mother and an unrelated daughter.

It was interesting – not something I’ve noticed in any other show. I didn’t realize that as I was shooting, and I’m not sure I’d have noticed had I been just watching from the audience. The show did feel intimate, and I suppose this is one reason. We can easily consume art without digging into it, understanding it, studying it. But I think it’s fascinating to delve into the artist’s brain and try to understand and to participate more fully. Study the lighting in a photograph, the blocking of father, mother, and son at the staircase in Rebel Without a Cause, the dynamics and intricacies of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the nuances of Rembrandt.

I was back at RCT on Friday night to grab some promo shots for the upcoming reprise of White Christmas. There are many familiar faces from the production last year, but other new players. It’s a great cast with many great voices. I’m sure it will be a terrific show. The theatre had to turn folks away last year. I hear ticket sales are going briskly already. Christmas seems to be a time in Rochester when folks are looking to relax and be entertained. Live musical theatre is a great venue for that.

And now the holidays are nearly upon us. I hope everyone can enjoy some family time at Thanksgiving with great food, perhaps some wine, and plenty of love.

I shot a couple Halloween events this year. First up was the Fright Farm presented by Rochester Horror. These same folks dressed up their house in previous years each time adding more and more. But they’ve really outgrown the house. This year, they were out at the Olmsted County Historical Center where they had lots of room.

Shooting a haunted event poses some challenges as you might imagine beginning with lighting. Or lack thereof. My solution is to use a flash appropriately gel’d. I like a blue gel which evokes night and dark. For the Fright Farm, I had the flash on a cord, so it could be aimed anywhere. Lynne helped out. With a zoom lens, it is often a three-hand operation.

Where there are already colored lights – which is often – I try to keep my Speedlite from spoiling that mood, using it more to fill in the shadows a bit. It’s a balancing act and definitely a place to use eTTL with the flash exposure compensation dialed down. And ISO dialed up.

The other big issue is focus. This was especially true with the flash out on a cord. It will fire a red/IR beam the camera can use to help focus, but with it out on a cord, it’s tough to get it aimed at the proper subject. Manual focus isn’t a lot better since, well, there’s no light!

My son never liked clowns. I think they all looked like this to him.

We were walking along with one of the tours of paying customers, so I tried to stay out of their way and not overly flash the scenes. That usually means hanging back. That also allowed us to have the actors recreate something I missed because of the crowd.

The next night, Halloween night, I shot some photos at Rochester Civic Theatre’s Haunted Theatre. This was a single night event providing a tour of the theatre backstage, green room, and dressing area where various creatures, zombies, and other frights were found. For this tour, Lynne was busy handing out treats (one of our best years at the house), so I slapped the flash onto the camera and swung it around, up, or down to bounce the light. Blue gel again.

I was able to make a couple walk-throughs with the guides before the action began for real. It was a good help. I actually did some DSLR video on one walk-through. There are some usable bits, but it was really, really dark for much of the tour.

The theatre has some nice props which were used well. I think I’ve seen this casket before. In Dracula perhaps?

Out in the lobby, I grabbed a shot of a couple of our hosts. It’s fun to watch folks truly immerse themselves in a role if just for one night. I enjoy working with theatre people – in case that hasn’t been apparent!

If you’re going to take Halloween photos, you have to have a good zombie photo. This was mine, taken at the Fright Farm. I collected a few zombies and asked them to pose in the graveyard. I took a few shots before my battery died. I was prepared with a backup, but no need. I had the shot. This one warranted a little work in post to give it the effect I wanted. I think it works.