Theo
Theo’s a gentleman disguised as a punk. That’s how I see him anyway. So, my idea for his shoot was “punk disguised as a gentleman.”
I drew up 5 images beforehand because I prefer to have a road map than just to show up and figure something out. If or when we get the main shots done, we can play around and have fun. The one above was one we got while we were playing around. That’s Theo’s “I’m having fun” face. Anyway take a look at the original and see what you can tell about the difference…
Yeah, it’s darker but I’ve also taken pains to remove the glare from his glasses and the veins in his eyes.
I needed a good location to shoot though, so I talked to my friend Tera and was able to procure some time pre-open at Bocktown Beer and Grill in Robinson Township. Many, many thanks to them.
The first shot we nailed down was…
The idea I was going for was to make the picture sort of seem as though I’m a friend he was expecting to show up and he’s acknowledging me as I join him. Not entirely happy with how it turned out. Not that it’s not a good picture. I just envisioned his head being a little closer to the camera. Minor tweak I’d want to go back and do if I could.
This one, I was 98% pleased with. The lighting was exactly what I wanted. After we shot this one, we tried another pose here that I ended up not liking as much as this one. Excluded from that other pose, were the salt and pepper shakers and candles. I’d have liked to have redone this shot without the shakers and candle. Can I edit the shakers out? Of course. It felt like it was more trouble than it was worth though.
This one wasn’t part of the original plan. Indeed I only ended up getting 2 of the 5 I sketched out. I just kind of wanted to do this one because the back hallway inspired me and I’d never really done it before. It was Theo’s idea to go from punk to posh as he got closer.
This one ended up being my favorite at this location if not all day. It really feels to me like this portrait captured that magic moment where the subject is relaxed, yet engaged, half posed, half candid. Besides all that, he just looks good.
After a most satisfying lunch we opted to slum it a bit and found this place. I stared at the picture for a while. Something wasn’t quite right.
I was paying more attention to the graffiti than to Theo. Since he was the subject, I had to find a way to turn the attention to him.
So I saturated those colors a little bit more (because that was partly the point) and then I cropped it down to make it pointless to even try to decipher the graffiti. (You know you were trying to do it in the above picture. Let me know if you figure out what it says.)
I also made a point to crop out the GR in GRUBER to add a little more potential depth of meaning to the picture.
The last picture in this post, I didn’t particularly want to take. I’d prefer not to shoot anybody next to a gnarly set of roots unless they’re a woodsman, forest ranger, or a wood nymph. The woods and punks have nothing to do with each other as far as I know and the combination to me is like taking a picture of a department store manager on a space ship. Might look good, but it doesn’t fit. It doesn’t describe the subject. Thinking about it though, maybe this means something to Theo. Maybe he grew up playing in the woods and to him this shot represents his emergence as the individual he is. Either way, sometimes you can’t argue with an image that just plain looks good.
As always, don’t forget to like the facebook page and go buy some art.
