Then He TurnedPhoto by SB
We met in the quaint South Park neighborhood in SF at a little coffee shop/restaurant. We chatted about food, wine, his book, the law, traveling and many other subjects. Sadly, I had to get back to work. We finally started talking about art on the walk to my car. Maybe next time we can start on that and expand because that is what is a major part of both of your lives.
I hope he enjoyed the SF MOMA and the Adams/O'Keefe and Avedon shows.
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In other news, CalTrans is closing the Oakland Bay Bridge from tonight until early Tuesday morning. If you have not been to the Bay Area, the Bay Bridge is the most heavily used span of all of the eight bridges. It is the main bridge connecting the East Bay to SF. I cross it twice every day for work. Tomorrow, I am going to work from my home and then Saturday I am going to have to cross it catch a flight to London. It will be perfect for my wanderlust. I will write more about that whirl-wind trip later.
Photo Note: This is probably my favorite from my photos of Andrea. We watched an Avedon documentary in class last week. I practiced his technique for getting his subjects to slip into moods. He would not say, "Look sad." He would guide you to think about something heavy and dark, like your own mortality, by leading you through deeper questions while he quietly clicked away.
Andrea recently broke up with her boyfriend and we talked about how it went. I asked her to think about how she had watched him turn around and walk out of her life and for her to think about her first emotion at that moment. She was quiet for a couple of minutes. Andrea is a tough woman and this was the most emotional photo I took. After the entire photo shoot, she requested to see that one photo. She said it hurt to think of that moment, but she needed to start working through the end of that relationship and this was a small step.
I tried having her think of happy things, angry things, arousing things, and many other emotions. The best photos came from the happy and the break up guided moments.
I am curious on how other photographers and models have gotten into various mood for photo shoots. What worked for you?
Yes, you caught the delicate veil of subtle emotion here. It's fascinating. I like her happy pictures, too. So often we disregard the importance of uplifting art.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying hearing about all the lessons you are learning. They correspond in ways to teaching drama to my students. Some of them do not want to deal with characters who are cruel or angry or depressed. They say they cannot identify with them, but it's not that they can't. They don't want to.
I'm sure the same thing is true for my posts on tough subjects like racism and age. Some people don't want to deal with those subjects. It's the reason we have so much racism and ageism.
You're doing such great work. You have a wide range.