Did a little photoshoot today for Our Lives Magazine at the surprisingly photogenic Ford’s Gym on Winnebago Street in Madison.
Why is this woman wearing a gown and boxing gloves? Good question. The photo is for an upcoming production called “Dueling Divas” and my editor and I thought it might be a cool play on the title. (I assume the gown she’s wearing is what she wears at opera performances?)
Anyhow, the photoshoot itself was pretty interesting considering I grabbed the wrong light and didn’t realize this until I got to Ford’s. (For those who care, I grabbed a rim light instead of the octobox for my Alienbees.) Although the mishap actually worked out pretty well — it allowed me to get a nice spotlighting effect. Also, I shot with my 24mm f/1.4 at f/1.6 and that helped create a nice natural vignette.
The other challenge I faced was trying to explain precisely the expression I wanted out of her, without using words like “fierce” or “tough” considering Tyra Banks has ruined those phrases and generally people have very weird concepts as to what “fierce” looks like. She did a great job though listening to what I said, even though it probably sounded like I was rambling and my demonstration of a “gritty” expression turned out more awkward than helpful.
Considering I don’t do portraiture with artificial lighting that often I’m please with what I came up with…I’d love to go back to Ford’s Gym though, there’s so much to do with that wall and boxing ring!
Lukas Keapproth 