Editorial AssignmentPlanning gear for location shoots| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland> The shoot is today.
| | 00:03 | Basically it's for the Craft Magazine.
| | 00:06 | We are doing the lead picture and what--
well, in their case, what they wanted,
| | 00:14 | the art directors, is that they wanted a
Hollywood look of this lady and glamorize her.
| | 00:18 | So, what it's going to mean is
taking a main soft box and the low light.
| | 00:23 | We should have a 9-foot seamless with
us and the stands for the seamless.
| | 00:32 | This is a good example of a
typical day where we're going on a
| | 00:36 | magazine assignment.
| | 00:37 | And it's a slightly different type of
shoot. This is not like a portrait shoot,
| | 00:41 | a traditional portrait shoot.
| | 00:43 | She is a crafts person and she's going
to be making something with clay, which
| | 00:49 | she is a great artist at, and what they
want is a forceful lead picture and then
| | 00:54 | they said "Keep your eyes open for anything else."
| | 00:59 | When you go on location as photographer,
it's an entirely different ball game
| | 01:04 | because you must have everything there.
| | 01:06 | You can't say, "Oh, if I only had
another da, da, da." You have must bring it with you.
| | 01:12 | And again, it's a strobe
day for a number of reasons.
| | 01:15 | First, that's a type of
lighting the client basically wants.
| | 01:18 | They don't want the sense of
available light, which I love often, but
| | 01:22 | the look that we are going for is this
radiant, beautiful image and we have to
| | 01:27 | have everything there.
| | 01:28 | We have to have the spot grids, we have
to have make sure that the holders are
| | 01:32 | there for the grids, the radio
transmitters for our strobe lights. We have in
| | 01:37 | what we call our blue case, we
have three heads and two 1000 watt packs.
| | 01:44 | So, you have to structure in
your mind and you have to make choices.
| | 01:50 | Especially this is one thing when we
are in town, but it's even more complex,
| | 01:55 | if you are going away as I've had to.
For example, I was working on the film Australia.
| | 01:58 | I was away for seven weeks.
| | 01:59 | And you have to stop and think, what
is everything I am going to need for
| | 02:02 | the next seven weeks?
| | 02:04 | And you better have it,
because when you are out in the outback,
| | 02:07 | thousands of miles, the other side of
the Europe, you can't say "Gee, If I only
| | 02:12 | had my special lens." You better bring
it with you but at the same time, it's
| | 02:17 | even more complicated because you can't
take excess weight, because you have to
| | 02:22 | drag all the stuff along.
| | 02:23 | Some people make a mistake of taking too much.
| | 02:26 | So, the decisions are made,
what you need, what you are going to use.
| | 02:31 | Be practical. It's part of
the game. Very, very important.
| | 02:36 | This case is what we call the number one.
| | 02:38 | Why do we call it the number one?
Because it's the one that always goes.
| | 02:41 | It's the one we put our meter in, our
principal camera. See some of the
| | 02:45 | transmitters are here.
| | 02:47 | And in the side front pockets here we
have lots of little tricks and things like
| | 02:50 | there is a special
screwdriver to tighten our tripod.
| | 02:53 | There is a certain type
of wrench that we require.
| | 02:55 | Here is a wonderful star and a mist
filters that fit on our principal lenses.
| | 03:04 | With adapters and otherwise.
| | 03:06 | Sometimes, we can't take it if we are
going certain parts the world but normally
| | 03:09 | it's with us and has our meter in
here. Anumber of our lenses are in here.
| | 03:14 | Here's our 1DS Mark III here.
| | 03:16 | That's the camera we're going to be
principally using today and then there is
| | 03:19 | a backup camera.
| | 03:21 | I wouldn't go out without a backup camera.
| | 03:23 | I don't want to go anywhere without
one, because even though this equipment,
| | 03:27 | modern equipment from I guess just about
all manufacturers today but especially
| | 03:32 | Canon, is highly reliable,
| | 03:34 | weird things can happen and as a
professional you cannot say "Hey I would gotten it,
| | 03:41 | but the camera broke."
| | 03:42 | The camera never breaks if you're
really doing the job, whether you are
| | 03:45 | professional or a serious amateur.
| | 03:47 | Bring back the goods. Again, I say, I
repeat it, because that is what I must do today.
| | 03:53 | No excuses! Just get the
picture and make it good.
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| The setup| 00:02 | Douglas Kirkland> First of all I want
Hannie to look wonderful, that's my
| | 00:06 | first obligation, and the picture
specifically that I'm going after is, and it's
| | 00:10 | the most important one, which is the one
we're doing first, is going to be almost
| | 00:14 | like a studio picture.
| | 00:15 | We're working here in her home,
so I bring this seamless paper.
| | 00:19 | We have a 9-foot wide, 3-meter wide
white and we're putting that behind her,
| | 00:24 | which would look like she was really
in our studio, but of course we're here
| | 00:27 | at her place.
| | 00:28 | And so we're going to really do a very
clean picture, which would be probably
| | 00:33 | the picture the publication
wants more than anything else.
| | 00:36 | Beyond that and after that I hope to
get maybe some pictures of her working.
| | 00:42 | She said she might
actually create something for us.
| | 00:45 | I'd love to see her working. And then I
like to look in very closely at number of
| | 00:49 | her pieces possibly too.
| | 00:50 | So all of these things are all the
possibilities, but mainly the picture I
| | 00:55 | must come away with, so we're doing it
first, is this classic portrait of the
| | 01:00 | artist with her work.
| | 01:01 | We'll put the seamless against--once
they're finished--put it up to the ceiling,
| | 01:08 | because I want to be able to
back up here and what we're going to do
| | 01:13 | is get some glorious pieces
specifically, and maybe move the table slightly
| | 01:19 | this way too so we have more space
behind the background, and Hannie will sit
| | 01:24 | behind it and we can move out that way
in terms of getting enough distance with
| | 01:30 | the camera and we'll use a soft box,
which will probably be about, could be
| | 01:33 | about what Jeremy is. Or
it will be here and I'll probably be
| | 01:38 | shooting past it.
| | 01:39 | Okay, now meter.
| | 01:42 | Female Speaker> 8.
| | 01:43 | Douglas Kirkland> 8, okay. I'm going
to 8 and I'm going to a 15th, so set yourself
| | 01:49 | to a 15th please.
| | 01:57 | We are getting a nice effect.
| | 01:59 | I mean you want to come in and look at it?
| | 02:00 | Female Speaker> That's cool.
Douglas Kirkland> I like the slight grayness of the background.
| | 02:06 | Technically what I'm
doing is I'm shooting in a way that might
| | 02:08 | seem strange to you. I could be
at f/22 if I wanted, but I'm not.
| | 02:13 | I am shooting at f/8 and because the
amount of light coming through the paper.
| | 02:17 | It's doing part of our lighting for us.
I weakened the modeling light here, which
| | 02:23 | I can do, and I weakened it so I could
shoot at-- I'm shooting at a 15th at 8 and the
| | 02:30 | strobe is doing-- there again,
you see exactly what's happened.
| | 02:35 | So the daylight is coming through this
paper a little and giving some of that
| | 02:39 | illumination in the background.
| | 02:40 | It's a question of working with what
you find and being sensitive to it, but
| | 02:45 | she's going to look wonderful and the
bright colors look great. And now I will do one
| | 02:50 | more time please.
| | 02:53 | Female speaker> 8.
| | 02:54 | Douglas Kirkland> Okay, thank you.
| | 02:56 | Okay, Francoise, you can do some more
moving for me because I'd like to see as
| | 03:00 | many of these pieces as possible.
| | 03:02 | I move them back because what's
happening, Francoise, just so you understand,
| | 03:08 | it's getting too big.
| | 03:09 | I want to move them back
closer to the background.
| | 03:12 | Yeah, you're doing the right thing
there, Miranda, and of yeah, yeah that's right.
| | 03:17 | And this highest one, Miranda,
see if you can move it camera right more.
| | 03:22 | It's better already what you've
just done. Okay good. It's excellent.
| | 03:27 | This is building a picture.
| | 03:28 | We've got wonderful pieces of art
here and basically have the art and the
| | 03:35 | artist and they're wonderful forms
and you have to be a sensitive to this.
| | 03:40 | We also have to create
images that will fit shapes.
| | 03:44 | And if you're shooting a cover you
obviously have to it so it's vertical because
| | 03:48 | covers are vertical 99 times out of 100
and they can have space to put type on.
| | 03:54 | Now they also might like that for
their lead picture. They might put her--
| | 03:59 | the name of the story up there.
| | 04:01 | So you're allowing space sometimes
and so that's why we have large amounts of
| | 04:05 | space like you see here available.
And you have to feel good about the colors and
| | 04:11 | the forms and shapes and this is very symbolic.
| | 04:16 | These, I don't know what you call them,
needles. That's very much involved in
| | 04:21 | her work and if you look at the top
of her pieces she has incorporated that
| | 04:25 | in a masterful way.
| | 04:27 | It's very exciting.
| | 04:28 | I get a buzz on because I know we
got a good picture going, and I want to
| | 04:31 | get as much prepared right now as
possible because when she comes in I'm going
| | 04:36 | to have to work in a slightly different way.
| | 04:39 | I won't make as many changes,
at first at least. That's it.
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| Environmental portrait| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland> Doing editorial work,
you are coming in and almost asking a
| | 00:05 | favor of people, because she is not
being paid to do this. She is being sort of...
| | 00:10 | It's a salute to her, and because
she is a genius, an expert at what she does,
| | 00:16 | a master if you will.
| | 00:17 | The magazine wants to convey that, but
we are a guest in their home here and they
| | 00:25 | are very, very polite, nice people.
| | 00:28 | We want to upset things as
little as possible, as always.
| | 00:34 | When we leave at the end of the day we
want her to feel good and them to feel good,
| | 00:38 | she and her husband.
| | 00:40 | We brought a book for them,
which I am going to sign.
| | 00:43 | It's the book of my movie work, our movie work.
| | 00:47 | Why have I worked for more than 50
years in the game? It's because I try to be
| | 00:52 | sensitive to everything,
including starting with Hanie herself.
| | 00:57 | That who really is important.
| | 00:59 | It all revolves around her and we
must not do anything that extends any
| | 01:06 | discomfort of any kind.
| | 01:07 | I'm sure it's going to work.
I feel good about this.
| | 01:10 | All right! Now, this is good, this is
good, this is good. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
| | 01:14 | yes, wonderful! Great!
| | 01:16 | I coming over right away to
show you, because I know it's such a
| | 01:20 | nice beginning.
| | 01:21 | That's the second frame we took.
| | 01:25 | That's good, okay, just a second.
| | 01:29 | Okay, now turn again your shoulders,
yes, yes, yes, yes, that's nice, then lean
| | 01:35 | forward a little that way,
yes. Beautiful, beautiful.
| | 01:37 | Okay, yes, wonderful.
| | 01:41 | I am just going to go down a little lower, excuse me.
| | 01:47 | Good, wonderful!
| | 01:49 | Great!
| | 01:50 | Yes, it's pretty special.
| | 01:53 | I am going to take my shoes off, if you don't mind.
| | 01:54 | To be an artist like you who
creates these. You know, you are the best
| | 01:59 | of all worlds, because you create
beauty but you are beautiful and it makes my
| | 02:05 | job much easier.
| | 02:11 | You're wonderful, okay. Yes,
great, very good, yes, yes, yes.
| | 02:17 | Sit up a little higher now.
| | 02:21 | Now, can we raise that stool up please?
| | 02:30 | Female Speaker> Do you want more?
Douglas Kirkland> I like where it is.
| | 02:32 | I like what you're doing.
| | 02:32 | I like what you're doing
very much, very, very much.
| | 02:35 | Yes, wonderful, yes, yes,
yes, yes, yes, fantastic!
| | 02:40 | Wow! You are good.
| | 02:44 | I've got to show you this.
| | 02:45 | I can't keep it to myself.
| | 02:49 | You are good, you are very good.
| | 02:58 | Yeah, I like what you're doing
here, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
| | 03:04 | A slight smile would be nice.
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!
| | 03:08 | I am backing up a little again.
| | 03:12 | What happens is when I back up,
the purpose is I go to a longer lens and
| | 03:16 | that makes you bigger.
| | 03:17 | Sometimes when I come in I am
emphasizing your work more. That's with the camera
| | 03:23 | thatt's what I am doing.
| | 03:24 | But I love your position you're in, yes.
| | 03:26 | You've got it such delicate?
You remind me of Renaissance painting.
| | 03:30 | You do, you really do.
| | 03:32 | Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You have a
very beautiful, classical look, wow!
| | 03:37 | We will try something different
here. Try the other hand maybe.
| | 03:42 | Make yourself comfortable, you find your spot.
| | 03:43 | Oh! I love that.
| | 03:47 | I love it, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
| | 03:54 | I've been doing this a long time, Hannie.
You will see some pictures in those books but
| | 03:58 | honestly I get the same buzz.
| | 04:01 | I know it's a beautiful image being
created as I did with Marilyn Monroe or any
| | 04:04 | of the rest of them, yes, yes, yes.
| | 04:08 | Leo!
| | 04:09 | I am going to ask you a favor.
| | 04:12 | Could you just walk in around behind the scene?
| | 04:15 | I want to take a picture of two of
you together for you. Just have to stand
| | 04:19 | there, maybe get your
heads fairly close together.
| | 04:21 | Yeah, put your arm around her, yeah.
| | 04:24 | Yeah, that's the idea, yes,
yes, yes. This is for you.
| | 04:31 | Okay, nice.
| | 04:33 | Okay, thank you Leo!
| | 04:34 | I wanted to get a few with you there.
| | 04:35 | This is not for the magazine. It's for you.
| | 04:41 | Is there any other thing you want to do?
| | 04:42 | You can't think of anything.
You've done it all.
| | 04:44 | Okay, I think we have done this picture.
| | 04:46 | If you said you didn't like something
there, honestly if you saw something,
| | 04:49 | I would change it. We could do more pictures.
| | 04:50 | But if you are comfortable here, and I
am very comfortable. See all these seams here,
| | 04:56 | these are bleeding into the
picture and I love this form of this piece.
| | 05:00 | I love the colors.
| | 05:01 | Female Speaker> Yeah I like that one. Close up.
| | 05:03 | Douglas Kirkland> Yeah, that's really cool.
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| Documentary coverage| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland> This is a working
picture versus the other one which was a
| | 00:02 | portrait of you with your work.
| | 00:05 | And this time the difference is I am
letting you leave and I am just following.
| | 00:09 | I am watching and enjoying it very much.
| | 00:11 | So I am an observer here.
| | 00:13 | I was asking you to do things
before. I don't want to now.
| | 00:16 | Camera meter? Thank you.
| | 00:19 | Okay, let's go meter reading sitting in there.
| | 00:22 | Female Speaker> Do you want
me to sit in or you want me to?
| | 00:25 | Douglas Kirkland> What's that?
Female Speaker> 11.
| | 00:27 | Douglas Kirkland> Okay,
now I am going to weaken this.
| | 00:28 | I am shooting at
200 ISO at 5-6 and a half.
| | 00:41 | Between 8 and 5-6.
| | 00:43 | And the shutter speed is a 20th of a second.
| | 00:46 | That may sound odd to you.
| | 00:48 | Now I can handhold comfortably at a
20th. Especially with strobes. So the only
| | 00:53 | place that's really getting
the 20th is like the lights.
| | 00:56 | And then why am I shooting at a 20th?
Because I want the lights to look like
| | 01:00 | normal room lights.
| | 01:02 | So you're going to really up the strobe
doing any overall illumination and they're
| | 01:08 | shooting at a thousandth or whatever.
| | 01:10 | This gives me a lot of flexibility for shooting.
| | 01:12 | Female Speaker> You don't have to get that in...
| | 01:15 | Douglas Kirkland> Whatever you think is right.
| | 01:17 | Female Speaker> Where do you want me to sit?
| | 01:20 | Douglas Kirkland> Where you would like to sit.
| | 01:21 | Female Speaker> I will sit wherever.
| | 01:23 | Douglas Kirkland> So I am watching her
natural thing and I want her to -
| | 01:27 | She will basically create the picture.
| | 01:29 | If something was wrong I would say something.
| | 01:30 | But basically this is Hannie's picture.
| | 01:37 | Female Speaker> Is the piece behind you yours?
| | 01:40 | Douglas Kirkland> On the wall? Oh, it's fantastic!
| | 01:43 | It's getting better.
| | 01:44 | Female Speaker> Unfortunately,
we can't afford anybody else's artwork.
| | 01:46 | So it's all we have around the house.
| | 02:27 | Douglas Kirkland> It's beautiful to
watch somebody do something they do well and
| | 02:33 | caringly and that's what I feel..
| | 02:40 | You become impatient if it goes too slowly?
| | 02:41 | Female Speaker> Yeah, I get from
a lot of people when I do shows,
| | 02:45 | when they see it they will say, "Oh. you must be
so patient" and I think it's completely the opposite.
| | 02:51 | Douglas Kirkland> You want to get on with it?
| | 02:52 | Female Speaker> I am so impatient
that I have to be like doing something.
| | 02:56 | I can't just sit here
like watching TV or anything.
| | 02:59 | I have to be working and
making something. So I think it's...
| | 03:03 | Douglas Kirkland> Well, you
certainly use your time well.
| | 03:07 | Now I could probably photograph
you doing this all afternoon but I feel
| | 03:12 | photographically I have what I need.
| | 03:14 | But so I am watching the detail as you work.
| | 03:19 | Female Speaker> Oh, that's nice.
| | 03:20 | Douglas Kirkland> Then I have some
here, seeing what you're working with
| | 03:24 | as well which I think is quite nice.
| | 03:26 | Female Speaker> Yeah, that's
nice, the fingers working.
| | 03:30 | Douglas Kirkland> Coming in
the detail here, your hands.
| | 03:34 | And it's your backlight, backside
light, from as far back in the corners.
| | 03:38 | Let me walk over there.
| | 03:42 | Curious what it looks like, Charamy.
| | 03:44 | Shine it through this sheet from the
opposite side. Let's see what happens.
| | 03:50 | Female Speaker> It's not
going to be nice for awhile but..
| | 03:53 | Douglas Kirkland> Whatever you
do, Hannie, will be nice for me.
| | 03:57 | You can do whatever you want.
| | 04:05 | You're great! I love everything you
are doing. I love the way you look.
| | 04:09 | I love the way you're working.
| | 04:11 | I feel like I am really watching the process.
| | 04:31 | It's a very intimate work
as you're-- It's the touch.
| | 04:34 | Do you feel a bit like that?
| | 04:38 | Not too many types of work can
you really handle something like you do.
| | 04:42 | Female Speaker> It's
magical, how it is just a clump.
| | 04:43 | Douglas Kirkland> Well, yeah exactly.
| | 04:46 | Douglas Kirkland> You give birth to something, a new form.
Female Speaker> Yeah.
| | 04:53 | Douglas Kirkland> I don't want to be
disappointing but I think unless there is
| | 04:55 | something I don't know about,
that I probably photographed this.
| | 04:59 | My obligation basically was
to do the first picture we did.
| | 05:03 | But having the opportunity to be near
you and watching you work is something
| | 05:07 | that I just couldn't walk away from.
| | 05:08 | That's all they asked me to do.
| | 05:10 | Is get that one great picture.
| | 05:11 | But I get inspired by
being around inspiring people.
| | 05:15 | People who are creative. Creative.
| | 05:17 | Truly creative people. And you've
made something. Essentially you've taken
| | 05:20 | something and given birth to it.
| | 05:21 | You've made something out of nothing.
| | 05:22 | And that's very inspiring
and I love just to watch it.
| | 05:26 | And what I am seeing with the camera is
I am seeing first you and the essence of
| | 05:30 | everything here moving and doing and
I've become very sensitive to your atmosphere.
| | 05:35 | And what I am doing with the camera is
I am seeing your forms, the forms, and
| | 05:39 | even I love watching your hands close
as they touch. But at the same time in my
| | 05:44 | photograph I want to see the overall forms.
| | 05:47 | I am doing two things in it. But again it's you.
| | 05:51 | This is your day, not mine.
| | 05:52 | I am just here recording it.
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| Reviewing the lighting| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland> Here is the situation.
I went into Hannie's house and her work
| | 00:04 | area and I realized that I had to make
a picture on the level of-- We had to
| | 00:10 | make her look like a Hollywood star
because that's what the magazine said they
| | 00:13 | wanted most ideally.
| | 00:14 | They wanted her not only to look
like a star, but to feel it good.
| | 00:17 | So I was going to do
everything I could to make that happen.
| | 00:20 | First thing I had to do was have
the lighting right, however, and it
| | 00:23 | wasn't ideal.
| | 00:24 | And what happened was there was a
window in front of the table where she worked
| | 00:28 | and I said let's put a white seamless
up there, and there was quite a bit of
| | 00:31 | light coming through it and I had the
choice of maybe putting something over the
| | 00:34 | window to stop the light but I
said no, let's use what's there.
| | 00:38 | Let's let that light come from the
back from, through her, and but what I
| | 00:42 | realized is all we have is
the silhouette there. That's fine, but you've to
| | 00:46 | do something.
| | 00:47 | So this is where the strobe comes in.
| | 00:48 | Bring the soft box on the front.
We switched it on at maximum and what happens?
| | 00:54 | We have too much light and
suddenly you're not getting the effect
| | 00:57 | from the outside because it was a
rather dark day and there wasn't a lot of
| | 01:00 | light coming through it.
| | 01:01 | So what we did was we cut down the
power of the strobe and so it balanced, and
| | 01:08 | when it was balanced, then we were
able to start making pictures frankly.
| | 01:14 | I did a number of things here.
| | 01:16 | I had to cut down the shutter
speed in order to get the background.
| | 01:21 | I was shooting it only at 20th of a
second. That may sound alarming to you,
| | 01:24 | but frankly it's not as a 20th as you
might think of it, because the front if
| | 01:29 | you will remember is all lit by the
strobe light, which is going at a 1000th or faster.
| | 01:34 | This is the only area that's illuminated
by the 20th and I hold the camera quite
| | 01:38 | steady, and I am at f/9, at 100 ISO.
| | 01:42 | But that was fine at this point.
| | 01:44 | But notice the lighting
is a little flat and dull.
| | 01:47 | So what I did then was raised the
light and put it on an angle so I have more
| | 01:53 | sculpturing and more form.
| | 01:55 | This is a much more desirable kind
of light and in addition to that,
| | 02:00 | I pulled the table further from the
background to let it go just a little gray
| | 02:04 | which I like very much.
| | 02:06 | But I did a couple of other things.
| | 02:07 | You'll notice I am still on a
20th of a second, because I want this
| | 02:10 | background to show.
| | 02:12 | It's slightly grayer because I've
pulled the table away from the background,
| | 02:16 | and now I am down to f/16.
| | 02:18 | Why would I want to go to f/16?
Because I want what we call depth of field or
| | 02:23 | focus all clear everywhere and I was
able to do that by one very elementary
| | 02:28 | thing that we can do with
digital photography today very easily.
| | 02:32 | I changed the ISO from 100 to 400.
| | 02:35 | That gave me two stops
smaller and all this clarity.
| | 02:39 | And it's all the devices we have
available to us and again with digital it's
| | 02:44 | wonderful because you can experiment and try.
| | 02:46 | I urge you to do that because you will
make new discoveries and you too will
| | 02:51 | keep finding your way and making
your studio wherever you're working.
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| Environmental portrait critique| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland> Okay, now I knew the
lighting was right. We had that wired.
| | 00:05 | The next thing that I had to think
about as a photographer on this editorial
| | 00:09 | assignment, as I would on any, is
working with Hannie who is not accustomed of
| | 00:14 | being in front of the camera everyday.
| | 00:15 | She is not a pro and she is what we
call in the business "real people." She is a
| | 00:19 | very much a real person.
| | 00:21 | In any case that requires her feeling
confident, feeling good, and certain of
| | 00:26 | what she is doing and that's my job as
a photographer at this point, or it will
| | 00:29 | be yours if you're shooting.
| | 00:30 | Let's take a look.
| | 00:31 | So what I did is quickly took a
few images, just to warm things up.
| | 00:37 | She felt the flash go off and she felt
the environment but I did everything just to
| | 00:42 | show her how great she was.
| | 00:43 | I mean I compared her with my movie
stars, which for me at that moment she was
| | 00:49 | the most important person in
my world and she has to feel that.
| | 00:52 | Now, at certain point, I wanted her to
relax a little, so I suggested that she
| | 00:58 | lean on her hand just to
give her something to do.
| | 01:00 | It's a very simple gesture, and make sure
that she doesn't push too hard, distort
| | 01:04 | her face or anything like that.
| | 01:06 | She did it beautifully.
| | 01:07 | And I let her know I was
pleased and it was working well.
| | 01:10 | But the shoot went on. We kept going
and I saw her after a certain point, she slouched.
| | 01:15 | And you know what it is?
You as a photographer have to see that and
| | 01:20 | you have to realize it's happened in
your mind, but don't say to them, "Hey!
| | 01:24 | You are slouching! Get up!"
| | 01:26 | No, that's not the way.
| | 01:27 | You say, "You look wonderful but
I think you're just a little lower
| | 01:31 | You can look even more beautiful
if you will just stretch up and you
| | 01:35 | will look statuesque."
| | 01:37 | "You will look beautiful" and here's
what happens. She feels beautiful and she
| | 01:40 | is more beautiful.
| | 01:41 | That's a great part of it.
| | 01:43 | The psychology of shooting and frankly
it's three-quarters of what I do,
| | 01:49 | because they have to feel good.
| | 01:50 | And at a certain point I was aware of
her husband Leo in the back of the room
| | 01:54 | watching everything and the psychology is
that he has to feel okay too, because if
| | 02:01 | he feels good she will feel good.
And so I asked him to come on in and I took
| | 02:07 | this picture of him.
| | 02:08 | I asked him to first put arm
around her and then give her a kiss.
| | 02:12 | And that's it and we have sent a
print of that to them and they love it of course.
| | 02:16 | And I am glad to do that.
| | 02:18 | I love to work with people,
and it's all part of the process.
| | 02:21 | She glowed as you can see here.
And then we went on to this picture, which
| | 02:25 | really was her final image, the one
that the editors chose and I like it very, very much.
| | 02:30 | A couple of little things I want to show you.
| | 02:33 | As she leaned, and they decided to use
one of the leaning pictures, she leaned
| | 02:37 | just a little too hard.
| | 02:38 | I saw it at the time in little camera
but I would not stop the positive process
| | 02:44 | that was going on, because I knew
it was a very easy fix for me later.
| | 02:47 | So I want to quickly show you. Also
there were couple lines here because of
| | 02:51 | the position, but overall, she was
glorious and I wanted to get that in my
| | 02:56 | camera and it was a very easy
fix, just to fix these things.
| | 03:00 | You see I have fixed that. Very simple in
Photoshop and this was the picture that
| | 03:05 | became the lead in the story,
although I did many many others.
| | 03:08 | I did a lot of documentation,
which helped fill the story out.
| | 03:11 | This was the lead picture but in
documentary work or editorial work we do
| | 03:16 | much more, because as I have told you
earlier we are telling a story through our images.
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| Documentary coverage critique| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland> You have seen my
process in making an editorial portrait, but
| | 00:04 | there's so much more required in an
editorial story such as we're telling here.
| | 00:09 | You have got to tell how it happens,
because you're giving information in
| | 00:13 | your pictures.
| | 00:14 | So let me take you through a process.
| | 00:16 | Here is Hannie working and actually
stitching these needles under the edge of
| | 00:23 | her work. Part of her process.
| | 00:25 | It's tremendously exciting to watch her.
| | 00:27 | But are there different
ways you could look at this?
| | 00:29 | I made some close-ups, yes!
| | 00:31 | But I thought it was more
interesting to see the environment she was in,
| | 00:35 | because she works on her sofa
in her living room, very simple.
| | 00:39 | I got up a box that I had there with a
wide-angle lens, and did the best I could
| | 00:44 | to frame it and get what I felt was right.
| | 00:47 | Very simple lighting. I just have two
strobes going off the ceiling, because
| | 00:50 | I wanted it all to look very natural,
not like it was setup or too overly dramatic.
| | 00:57 | So I was able to get this image,
but ultimately I felt that it should be
| | 01:01 | tighter because I want to have
always a great sense of design.
| | 01:04 | So with some Photoshop
simple work I created this.
| | 01:09 | This is the final image I gave them.
| | 01:11 | I took that cushion away.
| | 01:13 | I should have taken it away myself
at the time of shooting, but I didn't.
| | 01:16 | We're not all perfect.
| | 01:17 | But what we have here now
is everything is symmetrical.
| | 01:23 | This is where photography gets exciting for me.
| | 01:27 | The elements that she's working with,
the pine needles that she stitches into
| | 01:32 | her pieces, and then this
is just a carpet at the side.
| | 01:35 | But again it's all very clean and
I made the top so you didn't see the
| | 01:39 | white wall above it.
| | 01:41 | Not a lot of Photoshop work,
but it's how I see and how I feel.
| | 01:45 | And truthfully, for me, it's an
extension of my photography and who I am as
| | 01:49 | a photographer.
| | 01:50 | But ultimately, others don't always
choose the one that you like the most.
| | 01:55 | They needed a vertical.
| | 01:56 | So here is the picture we ultimately
used, and that is part of the process.
| | 02:01 | So in addition to my favorite
horizontal, which you just saw our landscape,
| | 02:05 | I took some vertically or, if you
want to call it, in portrait node.
| | 02:11 | There it is!
| | 02:12 | Again, the same elements, and she's working.
| | 02:15 | I'm not looking to see her face here.
I'm looking to see her art being created,
| | 02:20 | and that to me again is the process.
| | 02:23 | It's all part of telling a
story and there's so much more.
| | 02:27 | You have to think of yourself as a
storyteller, not just taking a lead,
| | 02:32 | wonderful lead picture.
| | 02:33 | So much more.
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| Reviewing an editorial layout| 00:00 | Douglas Kirkland> I've been
doing editorial work for a long time.
| | 00:03 | In fact it's more than 50
years, if you can believe that.
| | 00:06 | And I worked at Life and Look, and
many other publications, Holiday, you name it.
| | 00:10 | A long string of publications.
| | 00:12 | It's not new to me, doing this work,
but what is interesting is to see how
| | 00:16 | your material is used.
| | 00:17 | We're all are gratified as a
rule when we see the layouts come.
| | 00:21 | I mean I'm delighted to see this opening spread.
| | 00:24 | They call it a spread; sometimes they
called it double truck. It goes across two
| | 00:27 | pages and it's interesting to observe
how your open space is used here at the
| | 00:32 | top to put a title in.
| | 00:34 | And since it's two pages, if you're
designing pages and I have done page design as well,
| | 00:39 | you have to make sure that what we
call the gutter, a separation between the
| | 00:43 | two pages, does not go through
the middle of the lady's face.
| | 00:46 | So here it's coming here in a area
that won't bother you to see it and this
| | 00:51 | is all part of the artwork of putting
spreads, as we call them, together for a publication.
| | 00:57 | So here's the second spread in the
layout and again editorial work is about
| | 01:03 | talking and telling and showing, and
these wonderful images of Hannie's work are here.
| | 01:10 | They were preexisting images.
| | 01:11 | I was unable to photograph them
because she's very much in demand and they've
| | 01:15 | already been sold and they are long
gone, but I would show her working.
| | 01:21 | So there is a logical contrast here or
combination I should call it, better than contrast,
| | 01:25 | with everything together
with text with explanation in the center.
| | 01:29 | Very comfortable
for a reader to look at.
| | 01:32 | I want to just take you inside in my
mind as I took this picture for a second, if I may.
| | 01:37 | As I shot I, I would question always can
I get vertical or horizontal and I did
| | 01:44 | some very close pictures of her like
just like that with just her hands because
| | 01:48 | it's wonderful to watch her hands craft.
| | 01:50 | That is tremendously exciting, because
you are seeing creation, really creativity
| | 01:55 | at least at its best.
| | 01:57 | And after a certain point a little bell
goes off my head. I'd say "I think I've
| | 02:02 | got this" but then somebody says before
you quit, Kirkland, is there something else
| | 02:06 | you can do to make it even better?
And frankly in my peripheral vision I saw
| | 02:11 | this finished piece she had here.
| | 02:13 | And so I just gently pushed it over
into the frame and that ended up being the
| | 02:17 | winner, because it gives
you so much more information.
| | 02:20 | It's again the overall spread
that's telling a story, giving information,
| | 02:24 | and is giving satisfaction to people
who know this world, care about it, and
| | 02:29 | this is American Craft
Magazine. Always keep that in mind.
| | 02:32 | Let's look at the final spread in the story.
| | 02:34 | Again, used the picture of the
existing material and I have this
| | 02:40 | picture of Hannie at work.
| | 02:42 | For me, I love the fact that she had
this color of sweater. It helped. She showed us
| | 02:46 | a couple of different possibilities but
this one seemed right to me, especially
| | 02:50 | with the blue jeans and the
color of the table here.
| | 02:53 | And then we have the all the elements
of that she was working with and you
| | 02:57 | see her stitching and
interestingly, I said to her, do you enjoy this?
| | 03:01 | She said, well this is okay, but my
favorite part is really throwing because I
| | 03:05 | become impatient when I'm doing the
stitching, and I do it very rapidly.
| | 03:09 | But still she looks wonderful and
it's part of the magic she creates.
| | 03:13 | And this is all for me part of
telling a story with my pictures and the
| | 03:17 | pictures that we take for an editorial layout.
| | 03:21 | I hope you've enjoyed this portion of
On Photography and Editorial Photography.
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