Background
I got asked to photograph a hair show that was being put together by a really talented hair stylist in Denver. At first they asked if I would just do it, but I don't like shooting events like this ( for reasons you will find out ) so I passed. They came back and said they would pay me and I turned it down again ( for reasons you will find out ) and even suggested some other photographers that would probably do a better job. No dice. I raised the fee and they still agreed. Wow. Ok if they want to pay for my time then so be it. Let the games begin.
Warning
I have done many "fashion" shows in Denver being a photographer for Shades Model Management. I know the lack of time and effort they put into the actual venue vs. prepping the models and outfits, etc. I know lighting is the last thing one thinks about because 99% of these shows are held in clubs and "ultra lounges" where the less light in the room the better so the hipster idiots can look cooler wearing their crappy colognes and drink enough to make the club girls who bring their "wing girls" look super hot and....I digress. Anyway the lighting usually sucks and if you even ask the people in charge to set something up or turn the lights up a bit, they look at you like you are the dumbest person in the world. The lesson to take away from this is lighting is the last thing people think about when it comes to shows in clubs.
Everything is Better in Slow Motion
I was asked to show up at the club at 7pm. The show was to start at 10pm so I thought people would show up early, rehearse, get the bugs figured out. Yes I am the optimist. Models arrive around 8:30pm so I spent most of my time watching the clock move super slow and eventually just stood outside watching the people walk by. Did I mention there was a Rockies game going on right up the street? Planning a show on a game night presents several "challenges" (note: I was talking with a really cool guy named Cleon who happen to be a promoter nationwide and enlightened me to all this):
- First, people are not going to pay to see a ball game and then go out to pay to get into a club.
- Second, parking is going to be a nightmare.
Damn. Looks like I am stuck with on camera flash.
All the walls were black so bouncing off the ceiling would just require higher output from my poor strobe. I did bring all my gear ( AlienBee 800, softboxes, VagaBond ), but I parked 4 blocks away and again would not trust anyone with that much equipment.
Damn, looks like I m stuck with on camera flash.
I walked around looking at the ceiling and saw some devices that looked like they could be lights. I asked everyone and their mother if they could be turned on and again got that look as if I were "special". I already knew the answer as I have been through this many times before, but the little optimist in me had to at least try. I stood alone among the crowd as it started to flow slowly in. I fiddled with my bracelet staring at the letters W.W.D.D with the voice distant in my head of the old master and cringing at the possible lecture I would get for being stuck in a situation where I had no control of the situation. I looked around for anything and then thought of another angle to convince the powers that be to light up the place better. I again made my rounds and talked to the "coordinators" and said that the runway was really dark and no one would even see the models walking down it. They agreed, but could not do anything about it. "We are going to light some candles on the wall in back" one of the bartenders said. He must have seen my expression change and just nodded at the stupidity of the statement. So to summarize the event:
Dark walls with accent lighting, no lights at all to light the stage or the performers, oh and a big screen TV playing the Rockies game at the front of the runway so that every photo I took would have that as a backdrop....yippie. I was getting texts from Danielle saying I should smile all night. That would have been too ironic. The challenges this event provided will be made very clear in the next section.
No Lights, Camera, Action, Action...and more Action
Thank god I had one ear to the scene as I stood out where there were less people ( I am not great in crowds ) because the show just started at random and they walked out without much warning. Here is where the fun begins. First off, in a dark room you run into the problem of focusing. The camera uses light and contrast in order to figure out if the focal point is in focus or not. With no light, the camera could use an illumination assist built into the camera ( if it has such a thing, like Nikon does ) or one built into the speedlight ( which the SB-800 supports ). I should have paid more attention and tested this before, but my AF illumination was not working. During rehearsal, I noticed it was not turning on and the speedlight was not shining its cool red grid pattern out. I went through every menu many times ( probably looking like an idiot staring at my screen the whole night ) but could not get it to turn on. When I took off the speedlight, it worked, but thats not going to be much use to me. I looked at the speedlight turned off and back on the AF light and still no joy. I was frustrated, embarrassed, angry, and a little gitty ( kidding, but it sounded funny ) at the whole situation, but no time for that, the models were coming. Remember the scene I set up for you earlier? Well lets add another fine element to the mix: dark skin and dark clothes. Ok, with light complexion, you have some chance at getting a good focal point, but when there is no lights and the target is all dark, what do you do? I even moved my head up to look at them, but to the naked eye, they were dark.
Damn.
Here is a tip that I learned from my dad when he was a wedding photographer back in the day before auto....anything:
When he was a photographer shooting weddings, he told me a trick he learned. Most other photographers would spend too much time making attempts to focus on the bride as they walked down the aisle. What he would do is show up early, mark the spot whereever the bride would be walking down and figure out where he would be standing and focus on that spot. Now he knew the exact spot to take the shot at and always have a good exposure. So if you can't rely on auto focus, use the techniques people used before all that fancy stuff was invented. Ok back to the story.
I flipped my camera to manual focus. It was my last ditch effort. I couldn't focus on anything because when I looked through the viewfinder I saw nothing.
Damn, the models were walking and staring at me.
I felt their anger as I pointed a camera at them and nothing came out. I focused as best I could and just set the focus for where they were suppose to stand.....great....right?......no....The models were not really paying attention. They didn't hit their mark. Some would walk to the end, some half way, etc.
Damn.
Back to attempt auto focus and wait for them to smile and focus on their teeth. Anything!! Nothing. The poor lens was spinning round and round and no focus was set and with my D300, no picture is taken if there is no focus. Models walking faster and faster now. What does one do?
Fail.
Suggestion: I don't have the answer to this, but this has happened to me more times than I care to admit, which is why I hate taking on these assignments and even sent them to someone who would do a better job, but they still wanted me to do it. They assume that because I can do studio work, that I can do this too. I hate that. Anyway, as I was driving home with the windows rolled down to extinguish the fire in my brain, I thought that maybe I should bring a flashlight or some other "torch" to shine somewhere ( I wouldn't shine it at the models as that would be distracting ), but maybe a wall or up at the ceiling. Anything to gain more ambient light.
Experimental Failure
I am not much one for letting the camera do the work for me as I never trust it and like consistent results. Since I was in a no win situation, I thought I would play around with letting the camera determine the exposure. What a bad idea. First off, everything was dark so the camera lit the whole scene up like a flare. I set the camera to aperture priority to see what would happen. The SB-800 was set to TTL and I fired off some shots. Luckily I had the settings on a shortcut menu so that when it failed I could easily switch back to manual mode. I tried the different exposure types (weighted, spot, full frame metering ). The problem there was it saw everything in the dark and tried to light it all up. It was not worth the effort, so I switched back to manual. The other problem was there was a lot of other "photographers" there that had fancy on camera flashes and they all fired at the same time so my shots were always over exposed because their flash added to mine. I asked to have them moved, but it was not happening.
Damn.
The only benefit to their flashes was it gave me a long enough time to focus on the models and get some shots.
One final bit of the gods pointing a middle finger at me. The final act was the stylist doing a live hair cut on stage. In front of the big screen tv that played the Rockies game ( that was good because the tv created enough ambient to focus on....except it was behind them ). The stylist comes out ( dark complexion ) wearing all black!!! I wont go into that piece.
Lessons Learned
It seems each event like this I go to, the situation gets worse. I'm expecting if I ever do it again that I will have a better understanding of the phrase "Whats the worst that could happen?"
Check your gear. The whole AF illumination failure was a big deal that evening. I should have tested that out a lot more before the show. This was my failure in assuming the venue would have some sort of light.
Assume the worst. No one cares about your lighting. Or I guess even that the show is lit enough to see people. Especially in clubs that are not meant for this type of event. Clubs like dark lights. Hell even gels would have been nice. But assume you are working in a dark closet. If it turns out you are not, then at least your life is easier.
Show up early and get the lay of the land. I do this every time. I need to know what is going to give me problems, what angles I have to work with, and talk with the people in charge to let them know what I need ( like they care ) and what problems they may have. I did everything in my power to let them know the problems and everyone agreed, yet no one had any solution.
Bring help. This would have helped me a great deal. If I had backup, I would have had a better chance of success. I could have brought in an AlienBee and kept the modeling light on. I could have put a SB-800 on a support beam clamped, I could have had the person shine some light on themselves and I could have focused on them and then locked focus and swing back to the model. I did not prepare for the scene.
If you have any input into these shows, let the people know they need light. Don't even tell them its for you, but people need to see the center of attention. This was a hair show and 90% of the girls there had dark hair so how is anyone going to see the work of the stylist if its all dark?
Bring tech. Flashlight probably would have helped me. iphone light probably would have lit them too if I had nothing else.
Fashion Show Photography in Denver is hit or miss. I have been to some really good shows, but for the most part they are put together by a bunch of amateurs who don't know enough about the details to get it right. I am not sure what I could have done to make my results better, but hopefully this blog will help bring the problems to the forefront of your brain if you are crazy enough to accept a job like this.
One final bit of advice. Don't take on assignments that you are not comfortable doing. I would never do a wedding because I am not a wedding photographer. I was ready to pass this off to someone who knows how to do this, but they insisted on me so I just did it and hope they see the error in their ways. I think some of the erosion of making money in this field is due to situations like this. People take on projects they are not qualified to do because there is money involved and when they fail, the people who hired them are not soo keen on paying people and then they use people who will do it for free....and so on.
Mel Haynes is a Denver photographer specializing in fashion, portrait, and fine art photography
