Organisation and pre-planning are vital when shooting portraits of prominent people. Pro shooter Richard Whitfield recalls a memorble photo shoot with former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The majority of my work is shooting ‘constructed’ portraits for magazines – from FHM to Who to The Weekend Australian Magazine. My subjects range from dentists and drug addicts to sport stars and captains of industry. But the one thing all my subjects have in common is an interesting story to tell.
I describe my portraits as ‘constructed’ in the sense that my images are almost always pre-planned and carefully lit. I’ve always been more interested in ‘making’ pictures than ‘taking’ pictures. In the age of digital – with its low cost to shoot and instant feedback – this is arguably a very old-fashioned approach. But I have always been influenced more by the formality of Edward Steichen or Irving Penn rather than the candid nature of Henri Cartier-Bresson or Robert Frank.
And my approach is not without its purpose. Usually I’m working to very strict deadlines and with very limited time with my subjects. It’s not unusual to be expected to capture both a cover shot and opening spread in as little as 15 minutes (and photo editors will still expect to see plenty of choices!).
Pre-planning is essential to access both the possibilities, and more importantly, the limitations for the shoot: the tone of the story, the style requirements of the magazine, the location, time of day (if I’m shooting outside) and to be realistic about what your sitter will be prepared to do for you (however great you think your idea is, few people are willing to step outside their comfort zone, especially if they already have a public image they want to consider).
Often, the only creative tool you have any real control over is your lighting. Lighting is an incredibly powerful tool in terms of creating mood and ambience.
Lighting also creates a stage for your subject. They are constrained on their mark – as if already on the magazine page – which forces their engagement with the camera and ultimately the magazine reader. Also, knowing I have all the technicalities taken care of before my subject arrives allows me to work as fast as possible, constantly talking with and directing the sitter to cover off as many options as possible.
My shoot with then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is a good example. Commissioned by The AFR Magazine, my brief was to produce at least three different portraits from the session: a cover, an inside spread (a featured image) and one (ideally more) incidental image. The AFR Magazine is a joy to work for: oversized, beautifully designed and with a genuine respect for the power of photography.
Although the original idea was to shoot Prime Minister Rudd in a relaxed and casual atmosphere at his Brisbane home, this was “nixed” at the last minute by his media people and instead we found ourselves in a hired studio just around the corner from Labor’s Brisbane headquarters. Anticipating that rather than relaxed and casual, Mr Rudd would almost certainly turn up sharp, smart and business-like, I decided to use the sparse environment of the studio to create a minimalist – virtually monochromatic – set, accented with hard, directional lighting.
The broad black slash of the couch – reminiscent of a Robert Motherwell abstract – both broke up the blandness of the studio’s cyclorama wall and provided a prop for the me to work with. Unlike many other politicians I’ve photographed, Kevin Rudd is not a natural media performer. Confident, professional and polite, but guarded and perhaps suspicious (he questioned the motive of the low angle of my camera, when I simply wanted to accentuate the nice Aussie touch of his RM Williams boots against the corporate uniform of his dark suit).
This is the exact situation where a carefully planned ‘construction’ pays dividends. Being very precise about what I wanted to achieve, pre-planning and pre-lighting allowed me to work quickly, confidently, and direct all my energies to building a rapport with Mr Rudd. All up, I managed to shoot three different set-ups: a tighter portrait for the cover; a standing shot against a black background as the incidental and this featured image; and an out take (although my personal favourite) from the opening spread. The whole shoot lasted less than 25 minutes.