JWilsonphoto
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 p.899 #2 · Mustang Air to Air: The Sequel | |
Happy Friday Everyone! Had a pretty brutal week with temps hovering around 106-107 and a jam packed shooting schedule, but today is a "by", just scouting for next week. My oil & gas client promoted one of the guys to operations manager for the company and they needed a corporate shot of him for the announcement. I had met Charles out in Plains on my first shoot, great guy. Very self conscious about having his picture taken, I could sense it the moment he arrived. We talked a little and I got his mind off of what we we there to accomplish. I could see his expression change and it was interesting to see his personality morph from nervous to natural.
Portraiture is an interesting thing, many times a great shot is missed because of the rush/pressure involved. There have been many occasions over the years where I knew that I got an "acceptable" headshot/portrait of a person, but I didn't capture "them". Most of the time I'm shooting at their corporate location and I've hauled a virtual studio up 27 floors in order to be ready to shoot them at 8 am. I'm tired and frazzled, they want to arrive and get it done so they can get on with their day, just not conducive conditions in which genuine expressions emerge. The photographer has maybe 5 minutes to get to know his or her subject, get them comfortable, capture them and get them on their way, it's a tough gig. Truthfully, especially with the high powered subjects, you begin to lose them in just a couple of minutes so you really have to be on your toes, find a common ground, shoot and pack up. Do it often enough and you get comfortable with a certain level of success that is more than acceptable to the end client, but it is personally frustrating when you have gone to all the work to be there, set up all the best gear, brought your "A" game and you catch a glimpse of the expression you were hoping for as the subject thanks you for coming, or engages with a colleague.
You might recall that I had an assignment a few years ago where I was asked to capture one of my long time clients, Harlan Crow, billionaire real estate visionary and all around good guy. This was a bit different because he wanted a portrait that looked like one that Josef Karsh captured of his father Trammell Crow. Josef Karsh was a renowned portraitist out of NYC, his day rate was $10,000+ in the 60's and 70's, and to have a portrait done by "Karsh" was a sign that one had "arrived". I didn't know it until this assignment was given to me, but I replaced Mr. Karsh at Trammell Crow corporate in the early 80's, he was getting up there in age and his protege's, while very good, didn't have the panache that Karsh's work brought. Mr. Crow and I hit it off in the early 80's and I, thankfully, became "the guy" at Trammell Crow Companies. Anyway, my assignment was to shoot Harlan Crow in Karsh's style but with a twist to make it my own. I launched into a study of everything Josef Karsh and figured out his technique, it was fun. What made me think of this was a meeting that Harlan and I had to pre-plan the shoot. Harlan wanted it to be at his home, away from prying eyes, so he could relax. He said, "Jim, we'll schedule it and I'll give you all the time you need, we can even do it several days in a row if you'd like." I told Harlan that I appreciated his willingness to give me that much time, but the truth was, I needed five or ten minutes with him, and if we didn't get what we were looking for we might need the same amount of time on another morning. He was surprised when I told him that I know him and any hope of capturing what I was after would be gone in five minutes or so. We got it in the first three or four minutes of the first day, but I had the advantage of a long relationship with Harlan and his Dad, so the comfort level was there. I just had to peel away whatever was on his mind that morning and find a minute of his true personality.
Sometimes a photographer has to remind himself that he is in control of the situation, and control it. We find ourselves being pushed, rushed, by a million things and we aren't in control, that's when quality and creativity get compromised. Often the highest powered subjects calm down and give you what you need when they sense that you are a Pro, respectfully in control and confident in your skill level, there becomes a kinship for a minute and wonderful things happen.
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If some of them dislike their country that much that they didn't show respect to their national anthem, perhaps they should rethink whether they should represent the USA in international games. 
