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

Last night, I shot the show photos for RCT’s Snow White. Cast and crew have done a great job with the show, and I particularly enjoyed this interpretation of the tale. I don’t know if the look Denise used was written or hinted in the script, but the result was awesome. If you saw my earlier post about the promo shoot, the idea of an old time look (or is it olde tyme?) came up. I thought this show lends itself well to that stylistic representation.

Looking through the set of keepers from last night’s shoot, I sought out a few which might be fun to give an aged appearance. The shot above of Show White on her 16th birthday works, I think. The color version looks pretty good, to my eyes anyway. But this treatment provides some additional character. Here’s a shot in keeping with the promo shot, with young Snow and the dwarves.

I wish I could take credit for the nice triangular composition, but that was really Denise. There’s almost an 1800s feel to the costumes of the seven. The costumes are blacks and browns and oranges on a set that’s not a lot different. So, the color version of this shot doesn’t scream out color.

Here’s one final shot, capturing the wicked step mother/queen and Herself, the queen’s alter ego. Katie and Beth, the performers, did a remarkable job giving each of these characters life. Katie moves from role to role with such ease. We shot an audition tape of Katie for the Glee auditions that MySpace was running. (The monologue was goofed up during upload. A proper version is here.) She’d be wonderful on Glee. Beth recently played the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz. I don’t know if I’m sensing a theme. Here, she moved like a gymnist, becoming the unencumbered inner spirit of the queen.

I shot the show in our normal fashion. The director comes to the shoot with a list, and we stage the shots. There are many advantages to doing this rather than trying to shoot during a performance. I have run of the house, so I can move about finding the angles I want. We can boost the lights when needed. Some scenes are notoriously dark, but the human eyes of the audience have no trouble with that. I can shoot on a tripod and ask the actors to hold still. Sometimes, they do!

But we can also recompose a scene for the camera. A stage is a large environment. A good director will use it fully to paint a scene with a broad brush conveying a message to the audience. But a camera is intimate. Like the first photo of Snow White above, it’s just she, up close, filling the image with her emotion. When I shoot the actors as they are blocked, I have to pull back, go wide, capture stage and set and not actors. Instead of feeling the actors’ emotion, the viewer just sees a nice set with some people.

Do we get the same emotion and spontaneity we’d have in a live performance? For most of the actors I’ve worked with, absolutely. They are actors, after all, and have been performing these roles in rehearsals and performances for weeks. Not every shot is going to capture every viewer’s immediate attention, but there usually are several that do. And, that’s the best you can hope for in any photo shoot.

We shoot some promotional shots a couple weeks before a new show opens. They’ve been used in e-mail and web promos as well as in a commercial on the local TV station. But it means the costumer has to have at least some of the costumes ready earlier than what would otherwise be needed. And, the set is hardly ready, so we do what we can.

I was shooting this composition tonight and Denise, the director, said something about it looking like an old-time photo, and she directed the cast to show serious expressions. I couldn’t leave it at that, so I gave it the old-photo treatment. I like it. A lot. The cast did a great job with their expressions. A photo like this is truly a collaborative event. The photographer is just a part of it. I think that’s why I enjoy shooting actors.

I ended up shooting this pose with three or four other cameras including two phones, one of which was an iPhone, and a couple P&S cameras. They belonged to the cast members. I hope I gave them decent shots.

Below is one of the shots I sent to the theatre for promo use. The one above is really more for me! But you have to love the expressions in this photo. Not sure I could do it like they do. I’m happy to stay on my side of the camera. We shot these with some stage lights, but I added a bit of Speedlite flash as well to open things up a bit, using an amber gel to mix better with the tungsten stage lights.

The run of Gypsy at Rochester Civic Theatre is over now, and I hope you were able to attend. And I hope you took a few minutes to view my photo display, too! But I’ve had a couple people who were unable to view the exhibit (some because they live far away!) ask to see the images.

I’ve created a little slide show of the photos which you can view by clicking the photo above. I truly believe a print produced by the photographer is the best way to view a photograph, and I hope those who were able to see the exhibit found it enjoyable. The slide show can at least provide a hint of what was displayed for those who missed it.

Thanks again to RCT for allowing me to cover their walls!

Gypsy (click for more photos)

 The Gypsy shoot went well. These are some of my favorite shots. It’s a big musical, big cast, and lots of costume changes, leading to a long-ish session. The house opening was a bit late, but we made it through Greg’s photo list, although we didn’t take any photos of the lamb or the dog.

I was especially happy with the first shot in the set above. In spite of the harsh stage lighting, the exposure is good, the background is dark, the expressions are great. Rose and Louise – sort of says Gypsy.