Portraits - The Inimitable Dennis

Unit from ARD507, Last semester of year 2, Photography Option.

We had to produce a minit portfolio of a subject.  The brief initially said 4 images from a location that best represented the subject and 4 in a controlled lighting situation, as studio type portraits.  The aim is to capture the spirit of the person through formal and informal portraiture.

This was one of those occasions where as soon as I saw the brief, I just knew what I wanted to do.

I've met my friend Hazels' Dad, Dennis, on several occasions - and he just is the most wonderful character.  At Hazels' wedding, I'd taken a photograph of Dennis and Hazel, with Dennis in his inevitable flat cap, that had made me really want to photograph Dennis again - and this gave me the chance to do just that.

Dennis is 81 years young, and just the most lovely gentleman.  He is extremely active, walking miles around the country lanes,  and playing golf twice a week, at Padeswood Golf club, where he is a very well know and long standing member; He likes his pint, and has frequented the same local for many, many years.  He is a dedicated family man, with 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren, who clearly mean the world to him.  He paints, and he reads just about everything he can get his hands on, quoting everything from Keats and Shelly to the filthiest poems at the drop of the hat !  He loves his coffee and cakes, is really interested and knowledgeable about the local history of Summerhill, where he has lived all his life.  He served in the war, and was a boxer in his youth.  He has a wicked sense of humour, is extremely down to earth - what you see is very much what you get - and he is charming and possibly one of the biggest flirts I have ever met!

As you can see, he was probably the best of subjects to work with, with so much depth and character.  So, I approached Hazel who approached Dennis - who responded that yes, he would be my model - and did I want to do nude pictures of him? ! I told him yes - but he could keep his hat on :)
 

For the informal portraiture, I started off on a night out with Dennis and Hazel at his local - having done a studio session with him earlier in the day, I walked into the pub only to be introduced to everyone as 'This is Carol - she took nudie pictures of me today!'.  At a later date, we had a brief stroll around the outskirts of the village, and took a trip to Padeswood - where again, Dennis was greeted by every member we met with such warmth and humour, that it was clear just how well known and popular a local figure he is.

For the formal session, I booked the studio, and Hazel brought Dennis along, with her two children, Declan and Hannah - its obvious how important family is to Dennis, and how much he loves his Grandkids, so I really wanted to see if I could include them in at least some of the images and show how strong the bond is. I was  a little worried that Dennis would be uncomfortable in the studio session - as he told me, he'd never been a model before - but Dennis was just Dennis !  He chatted away, telling stories about his youth, his boxing, his war experience.  He recited Shakespeare and rude poems, and serenaded me with 'Help me Make it through the Night', and interacted beautifully and naturally with Declan and Hannah - I didn't feel like I had to give any direction at all, he was just so natural and relaxed.  I chose to go with low key, and black and white images - partly  because I didn't think Dennis would be comfortable with brighter high key lighting, but mostly because both black and white and low key are I think more flattering to a slightly more mature subject.

Once I had all the images, I was very happy with a massive amount of them, and found it really hard to select just 4 from each set.  I consulted with Colin, who also found it impossible to choose, and then with Stuart, who said that the number 4 should be interpreted as a MINIMUM number, and I should include however many I felt fulfilled the brief.


So, here are the images I submitted -with a couple extra.

Then, from the 'formal' studio session - though its pretty much impossible to be 'formal' with Dennis :)

This was a module that I absolutely loved.  Everything keeps bringing me back to the fact that though I've yet to find a genre of photography that I don't enjoy on some level, area's where I work with people are the ones that I firstly, tend to enjoy the most, and secondly, tend to get the best results from.

I owe huge thanks to Hazel, Hannah and Declan, but most of all, to the wonderful Dennis, for these pictures.  I think I fell a little bit in love with Dennis - its such a shame that at my age, I'm probably a little old for his taste - sigh !

Never Work with Children . . . Part 4

So - the last day of  5, in the studio.  Today I had 3 sessions booked. First thing, my lovely mate Hazel, and her two children, Declan (age 10) and Hannah (age 7). Following them would be Abbey again - but this time with two of her younger sisters, Lena and Layla. And to round off the week, Becky, a newly met fellow student, was coming in with her two youngsters, Coby (age 5) and Bella (age 2)

The session with Hazel, Declan and Hannah was sooooooooo easy - I've known them all for years, and had in fact done both Hazels engagement and wedding photographs, so all of them are very used to me pointing a camera in their direction.  Dec and Hannah are really nice kids and are absolutely great about having their photograph taken, and this session flew by.

 

Hannah also decided to dress as a 'Fairy Princess'  , with the additions of silk rose petals and holographic party poppers that I'd added to the props 

                                                                                  

And Declan decided to show how energetic he is !

 

Then some shots of the two together - these two get on pretty well, and I think this can be seen in the images I managed to get .

And once again, Mum was persuaded to join in . . . 

Thank you again, to Hazel and kids - not only for a really fun time in the studio - but also for a lovely lunch afterwards:)

Next up - Layla and Lena - and again, I have to say, I was so lucky with my models this week - these two were a pleasure to photograph :)

First, Layla . . .

And then - Lena - her Mum has sent a request that I 'try' to get her to smile 'naturally' on the photographs - admittedly she was a little tense and the smile a little forced at first - but that was easily solved by getting her to shout 'Knickers' at regular intervals - which just left her creased laughing and with a beautiful, natural, huge smile!

And again, shots of the two girls together - and later they were joined by Abbey, so I was able to take photographs of all 3

 

 I Really like the smile on Lena's face on this image .

And so onto the final session of the week - Coby and Bella.

Becky and I had only been introduced very briefly, by Claire, at the beginning of the week, so this was another opportunity to work with models that I really don't know at all - as I said before, good practise for me.


Two very adorable kids, but poor Coby had, I think, used up his supply of staying still for any length of time, in school that day - at only 5, the school day is a long, long day, as I well remember from when my own children were that age. Poor Coby wanted to play and charge round, and unfortunately a photographic studio, with all the lights and cables, isn't a safe place for a little 'un to let off steam. Because of this, this was the shortest session I  did all week, but I was pretty pleased with the results, and again, its a valuable lesson for me - its not fair to expect kiddies under 6 to be able to cope with a studio session at the end of a long day, so bookings there are best done during school holidays, or at weekends.

Such a pair of cuties, though!

I love catching expressions like the one on Bella's face in this image .

That gap-toothed smile is the sort of thing I love   to look back on with my own kids .

 Again - a very un-posed natural moment - and again, I think this sort can make the best images !

So - there ends the week - and there is a lot I have to learn from the experience.

I titled this blog 'Never Work with Children . . . ' thinking of the well known phrase - but did I find it true? .  Actually, no - I won't deny that the week was hard work . With little folk about, the first issue was safety - had to be constantly on alert, especially with those too young to understand the dangers of the hot lights and cables everywhere. And you have to balance warning the kids about this, with making each and every session fun for them - children's attention and concentration spans are much shorter than the average adults, plus you are asking them to stay on the back drop, smile most of the time, and put up with hot, flashing lights - its a lot to expect, so you really have to work at keeping them entertained, and happy.  This brings up the value of a good prop box, if you are working with kids - after this week, the list for mine runs through soft toys, building blocks, bright wooden cars and trains, dressing up clothes and hats, shades, maybe scarves and feather boa's, plus a bubble machine, party poppers and silk rose petals. For the under 2's, I need to add a couple of soft throws, maybe fake fur rugs - and these have to be washable, cos little 'uns can and do have accidents - as I was reminded a couple of times during the week, lol !  Also some sort of basket/chair for again, the very tiny, who are unable to sit unassisted .

You have to be prepared for kids who don't want to cooperate - either find a way to engage them, or let them take their time to relax and have time out when needed - because of this, its pretty much a judgement call depending on the child, as to how long the session lasts - so work fast, just in case ! You need to take your cue on how to approach the individual child from the child's own attitude - 2 year old Bless wasn't ever going to respond to me acting daft, but 2 year old Jack liked blowing raspberries and silly faces.  I guess you have to 'read' the kid pretty quickly and be prepared to go with what works for them.

I feel that the very best images I got were when the child completely relaxed, and behaved naturally - that sometimes meant big smiles, but sometimes it meant pulling tongues or gazing dreamy eyed, away from the camera, or leaping up and down like a loon - that's OK, I think you have to go with that in order to get the best images - its the expressions, rather than the poses that make the picture.  In quite a few of the images, I felt that I'd captured the emotion of the child at a certain point, and especially when the parents got involved, capturing the relationship between them and the child produced a lot of my favourite images of the week.

It was a lovely bonus to get the reaction of the parents when I'd edited and passed on the digital images to them - I felt they had done me a favour, giving their time to be my models - but, even though I can see for myself that I have a lot to learn and a fair way to go in this genre, so many of them gave me great feedback and were thrilled with the images I gave them. Children's photography may not be seen as very 'glamorous' or even as 'art' - but it produces some precious memento's for the parents, and there is a lot of satisfaction in them being very happy with what you produce. 

If I head in the direction of studio photography, including children's portraiture, by way of a career, then its possible it will be down the self employed route. I've researched the prices offered locally, and run a few informal 'polls' amongst friends, to find out what they consider good value and a reasonable amount to pay.  I've costed things out, and come up with a figure that most seem to feel is a bargain, for either a CD or memory stick of digital images, that will leave me with a reasonable profit - but most have said that they would also like the option of prints, and that's where the costs rocket - OK, you can nip into a supermarket and order prints, but the quality isn't great. Home printing is not cheap, and although I have an A3 printer, several parents have said they would like the option of bigger sizes - or canvas prints.  The cheapest prices I can come up with, having no access to trade at the moment, for really good quality prints, if I am to offer at a 'reasonable price' leaves little room for a decent profit - so that's a problem I am going to have to find a way round.

I also never got to the bottom of the issue with the 'tint' on the background - the image on my camera was spot on, but once it was viewed on the computer, that 'blue' or 'grey' tinge was there, and I need to work at sorting that to avoid hours spent editing!

I owe a Huge Thank You to all my 'models' from that week - I learnt lots and being honest, enjoyed every minute of it - thank you for your time and your patience, and for the lovely comments you fed back to me - it was all very appreciated:)


Oh - and in case anyone is wondering, I am not yet ready to try out the second part of the well know phrase - "or Animals" - just yet:)