Pierre Rougier is the head of PR consulting, and he decides who sits where at many fashion shows this week.
Pierre is also coincidentally a runner and this helps him fit into those nice Jill Sander suit pants. This was an assignment where I went in to the location and immediately knew I was going to have difficulty making something I liked, it was a long tube, and lighting in a tube is very difficult, plus all the walls and tables meant you couldn’t stand just anywhere, the relation of camera to subject was going to be not totally of my choosing.
When I saw this next pic I knew that I would at least be able to get somewhere- it has a graphic quality and humour.
Except for those pesky drum pendants I knew that it was about the glasses and the charts. And his silhouette. But the ceiling is really annoying.
So maybe change from hi key to low key, better but still all bunched up in the middle. The chart at left is driving the whole picture, so maybe its time to lose it. Still attached to the girl in glasses. She must have thought I had a thing but it’s an anchor, it injects a small twist into the picture.
Ok so the chart is still driving the picture but if it is going to drive why not let it take over? Still those pesky lights overhead. But I like the hedgehogging idea of just seeing over the partitions. But now he doesn’t look good in the suit.
Starting to move into parody. I’m projecting all sorts of things onto this picture. I mean, I’m letting the camera and the light do what they do just to see what happens. Its very easy to go down this road but ultimately it does not tell they story as far as I know it, which basically is about power. So as much as I like weirdness it doesn’t have a place here.
ARGH another row of those frickn pendant lights. You’ll notice that also its warm balance, this is what I was seeing while shooting, it was only later that I decided on the cool white balance. And I’ve lost my muse in the background.
This is what ran in the paper. Get on a chair and shoot down to eliminate the ceiling. Swap the ladies out in the background. Get a little tighter than perhaps I usually get (65mm). But the whole thing is simpler, more direct, and not leaning on parody as much, although the lady in glasses for me indicates a kind of intelligent ruthless efficiency that I think works here. It is a business, but it is a style business also. Looks are very important.
In the picture at the top I have pushed the print even farther, made the window light bluer that it was, the interior dimmer, the spot on him warmer and more circular. Because this is for portfolio and not for print I’ve also removed a light from behind his head.
This is another version where I’ve emphasized a different balance, made the flash like the exterior widow light, and the interior is down and warmer relative. I’ve spotted her face a little and task lamp is the “practical” source although it does not actually light her face. But the exposure was the same for all the pictures, just different toning.
I’d be lying if I said I knew how it was all going to go together as I was doing it, I really was just keeping on keeping on and hoping that something would happen as it usually does. I didn’t have the “one” in the bag but it didn’t bother me. I knew that it couldn’t get too dry or perfect or it would be a boring business portrait. So I knew I basically had to give up when it got really normal. That would at least mean I had tried all my lame ideas out and had finally gone for safe. Somewhere in that spread was the moment where it was safely between the two poles.
