Thursday 4 October 2012

Depravity | Behind the scenes



First post! I've been thinking about a blog for a while but kept deciding I wouldn't have anything interesting to say... so let's see how it goes.

I've got a recent shoot to tell you about but I'm waiting until the clients have seen the photos before I blog about it so I thought I'd go back and write about one of my favourite shots on my Flickr:






I bought the donkey's head off ebay quite a long time ago and had absolutely no idea what I would use it for but I bid at the last minute and suddenly a large box and a pantomime version of The Godfather were unveiling in my kitchen. The head sat in the house for a long time. I had a few ideas of what to do with it (one of which I'm still working on) but nothing leapt into my head. Then while I was up directing a show in St Andrews this image started to form in my head, I mulled it over for about a week playing with different scenarios until I had a definite concept and then we went for it.

David (who was up singing in the opera I was directing) was a very willing model and Katie came along to help out, which she did wonderfully as always.


It was a really fun shoot and we got many strange looks from dog walkers, especially as David decided to walk to the location wearing the head:




My kit for the shoot:


Donkey head (obviously!), Tripod, reflector (I use this all the time - one of the best pieces of kit I ever bought) and the wine bottle.

Once we got to the spot it was a pretty easy shoot to be honest. The weather was perfect and I knew what I wanted so it was quick to get David into position and take the few photos I needed. I'd just started doing expansions so I took a closer one of David and then took all the expansion shots I needed (and usually about 20 I didn't - I haven't quite mastered working out what I need and what I don't!) and we were done.

I did quite a big edit on this photo just to get the donkey's head looking right. The head itself is amazing but the eye came out funny in the photo and it's got a mesh nose so you can see where you're going (it was originally used in an opera so they'd have had to sing in it too). I'd originally planned to have a few more bottles laid about to place but it made it look too cluttered. So here is the before & after:


So there you go! My first blog.  Hopefully there will be many more to come. Thank you for reading!
xxx

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