Musical Chairs

Last week we were on a two-day shoot at the Cork School of Music with two executives from Wenger Corporation, a US company that provided much of the performance equipment (such as chairs, music stands, podiums, and risers) for the school. We’re not talking your average chairs here. These are moulded along Alexander technique guidelines to ensure perfect posture for performers, and they are made to the highest standard.

[Ironically, the shoot was so intense I don't actually remember sitting on one of the chairs at any point]

The shoot was scheduled for a Thursday and a Friday, and the school had hoped to help out with some students willing to act as (paid) models. In the States, Wenger has no trouble finding volunteers and such is their reputation that schools and students generally clamour to be included in the company’s catalogue shoots. Over here, Wenger is relatively unknown and we only had one model to begin with.

Fortunately, I’d been able to source five more from outside the school, while the music student we did have helped us get some of her friends in the school to model too - one of whom was able to work the lights in the main auditorium, which was invaluable when I needed lights in various parts of the hall balanced. In the end, we had just under a dozen student models, which we were able to make work for us.

We also got a lucky break when the choir we thought we’d booked for a photograph of one of the risers didn’t turn up. It left us with a picture and lighting all set up, but no-one to fill it. Fortune smiled on us, though, when a friend of mine walked into the school with a 30-strong Swedish choir in tow. They were in town participating in a contest and had come to the school to warm up before performing in front of the Lord Mayor of Cork. We got a handful of them on to the riser and I snapped away while they and the rest of the choir, who were behind me, belted out a fantastic performance. It was stunning. One of the Wenger execs was even able to attend the performance at City Hall a few minutes later.

For me, this was a great shoot to work on. Wenger puts a lot of emphasis on its photography, which means they value both photographers and their work. Nice. Also, the Wenger people and the rep from their UK distributor were really easy to get on with. Our models were also a good bunch - patient and accommodating. We even had one poor girl on a tiny podium three feet off the ground with her €6,000 antique cello in one of the school’s offices just so we could shoot with a window behind her. Did she complain? Not a squeak.

(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008


(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008

Indoors and Outdoors

I don’t get fired off jobs very often. In fact, it just doesn’t happen. Except for that one time last week.

I’d been commissioned to photograph an exclusive development in West Cork - a gated enclave of five houses that had been built right on the seafront. Lovely views in all directions, private yacht moorings - you get the idea. The paperwork was all done and signed by the property developer and we were good to go for the shoot.

Then came the phone call from the design agency that had brokered the assignment. Apparently, the auctioneer who was selling the properties decided that professional photography wouldn’t be required for the marketing material. He had a perfectly good camera himself and would take the pictures. In the world of property sales, the auctioneer outranks the design agency, so that was the end of me.

Temporarily.

Two days later, the design agency rang me again. Was I still available? Would I still do the job?

The auctioneer had come up against one of the trickier aspects of interior photography. While it is relatively easy to get some form of exposure for inside a room, it is much harder to get a balanced inside exposure that matches the light outside, which is what you want if your marketing material needs to show just how good the views are from the expensive holiday homes you are selling. If you don’t balance the inside and outside light, you either end up with totally blown out windows that don’t show anything outside, or great views as seen from the virtually black inside of the house. The trick is to bring off-camera flashes with you that you can use to boost the inside exposure.

Interior/Exterior 1
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Interior/Exterior 2
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Interior/Exterior 3
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Charity Starts at Home

This has been an amazing week for me. Not only have we been very busy in the office with pre- and post-production of a number of very interesting projects, we spent a couple of days working on Happy Faces, a national charity initiative organized through the Irish Professional Photographers Association (IPPA), of which I’m a member.

Each year, the association nominates a charity and members raise funds by shooting and selling portraits to the general public (social photographers) or to their corporate client base (commercial photographers). This year, Angels Quest was the beneficiary.

My plan was to approached all of my commercial contacts and spend a day chasing round the city, setting up a simple lighting rig at their offices and shooting quick portraits before moving on to the next location. Minimum fuss for the client, maximum benefit for the charity. Well, I have to say, such was the take-up that a) I had to spread my event over two days and b) I didn’t even get to my last client today.

I am humbled by both the support and by the efforts that some people put in on my behalf in this regard. So, I’m going to make a fuss of a few people, by way of thanks.

I deal with two computer solutions companies here in Cork city FixIT and TSG. FixIT organized a networking event around the portrait sessions at their offices, while TSG offered me a room in their complex and access to the many satellite companies that use their building. Thanks, Arnaud and Sean.

Don, my framer, got me into his studio for a shoot with his children - and then ended up offering me an exhibition space for later in the year.

Mike, whose kind of a private guy (so I won’t name him fully) but big in Cork and international business circles, ordered five portraits and then told me not to even bother turning up to shoot them. (I like to think that this was to spare my schedule rather than a reflection on the quality of my photography).

There were many more individuals, and I can’t list you all here, but nevertheless thank you for your support.

I’ve learned a lot from this year’s Happy Faces. Firstly, Cork folk are a generous crowd, which I kinda already knew. Secondly, I picked up a bunch of tips that will make next year’s event a whopper.

Brian O’Kane (Oak Tree Press) and Arnaud Disant (FixIT)
Happy Faces Day 2008
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Interiors

I do a lot of interior photography for property developers. It’s good fun and a great antidote to some of the more frenetic commissions that I undertake. Interiors are also less weather dependent than exterior work, so are much more easily planned in advance. Less stress all round, really.

The challenge is balancing the light levels. I use small off-camera strobes to put the light where I want it, sometimes with gel.

Yesterday, I spent the morning and afternoon photographing two locations for a new client. Here are a couple of quick picks.

(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008