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

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

Evolution of a Photograph

It’s great getting the shot first time, but it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, a photograph develops over a couple of shoots with feedback from the client. This recently happened with a commission from Cork-based tea producer Barry’s Tea.

The brief was to photograph a series of new packaging designs for use in printed material aimed at retailers rather than consumers. Barry’s had produced similar material in the past and asked me to deliver a result that would keep all of the current and past material in synch.

The first shoot produced this image for one of the new ranges:

Barry’s Tea Fruit Infusions - 1
(c) Roger Overall 2008

On reflection, the client said that they would prefer to see all of the boxes standing. They also asked for a different colour background in line with the dominant fruit colour and for the ginger to be removed from the shot.

No problem. Here’s the second photograph:

Barry’s Tea Fruit Infusions - 2
(c) Roger Overall 2008

A little more discussion followed, and the client decided that they preferred a green background after all, which gave us this photograph:

Barry’s Tea Fruit Infusions - 3
(c) Roger Overall 2008

All along we had also been shooting versions of the photographs without the fruit and ultimately this is the image the client chose:

Barry’s Tea Fruit Infusions - 4
(c) Roger Overall 2008

The lighting set-up was fairly simple. The boxes were lit from above with a large diffuse light created by bouncing a strobe off the white ceiling of the studio. A second light with a grid spot was fired from the left of the frame creating some fill and shadows. I lightened the shadows a bit by placing a silver reflector to the right of the boxes. Lastly, the coloured backgrounds were created using a third flash with a colour gel aimed at a white backdrop about three metres behind the boxes.

All the fruit made for some terrific smoothies afterwards.