Diary of a photoshoot - Matt
I met Matt through a generic casting call on a Facebook group for models and photographers in the South West. He’s an up and coming male model who very much sits in the tattoo inspired, skate wear kind of arena and he often posts images of himself on social media, wearing t-shirts from various small companies. We communicated for a fair while over Instagram to plan a shoot and eventually ended up working together on this project, which was shot in Plymouth, Devon. You can check Matt out on Instagram here @matt_black_model
We had decided early on, that we wanted to shoot in an urban location as we felt that it was fitting to the brands that Matt represents. This set me off into a deep dive into Google and my eyes on a swivel every time I was out in the car or walking around, looking for the perfect location to shoot in. I had come across several locations in and around Exeter that would have been cool places to photograph in. A couple of derelict factories and buildings on Exeter Quay and an unusual house that was up for sale in the city that had an abandoned vibe to it. Being a bit of a stickler for the rules, I didn’t want to find a hole in the fence and just go for it. So I attempted to contact the security companies and estate agents that were responsible for the various premises. To no avail. I didn’t get a single response.
I was just starting to get frustrated, when I remembered an amazing location that I had visited on a recent photowalk in Plymouth with a group of photographer friends. A multi-storey carpark where the top 2 storeys are out of use, but still completely accessible. At the time, I wasn’t sold on their obsession with shooting in car parks, but after exploring two on that walk, I did create some really cool images and perhaps a slight interest was born. I had a vision in my mind of what the images could look like amongst the large open, concrete space and the concrete pillars and I thought it could look really, visually striking. So off to Plymouth it was.
Arriving at the location, I instantly felt that it had been the right choice, the space was epic. Huge and vast, with rows of concrete pillars and flickering fluorescent lights in a segmented, recessed ceiling. I could see opportunities for compositions everywhere and I had a great time moving about the place with Matt, finding them. When I was planning the shoot, I spent a bit of time looking through Matt’s previous work. I noticed trends with a lot of low angle shots, shots from behind and a tendency to wear sunglasses. I wanted to buck the trend here and as much as possible create images that didn’t feel like anything that Matt had done before. The first thing to go was the sunglasses. I’m one of those photographers who believes that the “eyes are the gateway to the soul” and I want to see them, I want to focus on them and I want my audience to connect with the model through them. Matt had explained that, as someone new to modelling, he hadn’t previously felt comfortable as to where to look when being photographed and so used the glasses as a way to remove that discomfort. Being the kind of photographer who feels comfortable in taking people out of their comfort zone, I (politely) asked him to ditch the glasses. Being hugely keen to learn and develop, Matt happily obliged and then proceeded to absolutely smash it. Using only minor direction, he gave me what I wanted, time and time again. I don’t like to over direct subjects, as I think it can force people into feeling uncomfortable. But when I do use direction, it is often very minimal and I let the subject find something within my direction that works for them.
BTS in the car park.
The lighting situation within the car park was challenging, you had a pretty bright sunny day outside, streaming in through the large openings around the sides, overhead fluorescents and then a lot of shadows to contend with. I tend to set my white balance to 5500K as it will then render all other light temperatures as the human eye sees them, rather than compensating as it would in AWB. As I often do, I chose to shoot with one light, really as a fill light to balance with the natural light that was available. I used a single Canon Speedlite in a 90cm Octobox soft box, on a stand and triggered via a second flash on my camera. I just wish I had remembered my small sandbag weights to secure the light stand, as the wind coming into the car park was epic and the light fell over a couple of times. Luckily, despite a few bits flying off my flash, nothing was permanently damaged.
Generally speaking, I was metering in camera for the background and then using my Sekonic handheld meter to set the flash to the same setting, or I was choosing to then under or expose the background by a stop or two, depending on what look I wanted. Of course, the value of a digital camera, is the ability to take a look at how the shots are coming out and making adjustments on the go.
When shooting with a new subject, I always like to start with some really basic compositions and lighting set ups and simple poses or looks, just to help the model ease into the shoot. I also talk. A LOT! I like to just really set the natter meter to 10 and chat with the subject, hoping that they can quickly ease into things and the ice can be broken. Fortunately Matt is a cool guy, so quickly fell into step with my verbal diarrhoea.
Something I’ve been wanting to experiment with recently, is the Brenzier Method, with is the art of shooting multiple images of the same scene and then stitching them together to make one image. The idea being to create an image that resembles the look you can get from a medium format sensor, or film. It relies on shooting with a relatively long focal length to compress the image somewhat and shooting wide open to take the smallest slice of focus possible. A tripod with a ball head, is an ideal, but it can be done without. Confident to give it a go, I set Matt up in between a series of pillars, centred on a white parking line that created a sense of perspective. I set up the same one light and metered it. It is then crucial to focus on your subject and then lock that focus in place. You cannot use AF, because as soon as you shift your image, you will focus on something else and mess up the image. To ensure that nothing would change, once focussed, I switched my lens over to manual focus. I then shot a series of overlapping images, with Matt as the centre point. When I came to stitch these together in Lightroom later, I was really pleased with the result and I personally think it looks great. If you want to learn more about this technique, Sean Tucker over on YouTube made a great video about it, you can watch it here: Sean Tuck on YouTube
We both worked through a series of set-ups all over the car park. The stairwells with an overpowering smell of urine were a highlight. We shot for nearly 2 hours and created a great number of images. There was also an upper deck that gave the opportunity for shooting purely in natural light and creating some compositions with the Plymouth skyline. The shoot was great fun, but also presented a number of challenges for me to work through technically to create the sort of images that I had envisioned. Whilst, the plan had originally been to find an abandoned interior space to shoot in, I think that the car park actually created some images that I’m really proud of and was a great place to shoot. I do now, feel like somewhat of a plonker for dissing the car park affectionados in my photography group, as car parks are great places to make images.
With every shoot that I do, I learn more. I learn something about working with a subject, about lighting, about my camera. But, like most creative people, I am really hard on myself and sometimes I come away and feel a bit deflated by the images that I have created, but at times like this, I come away feeling really pleased. The edit is exciting and I can’t wait to share the images. Check out a selection from the shoot in the gallery below, go follow me on Instagram @matthewduriezphotography and as ever, please let me know your thoughts or questions from this post in the comments below. I read everything, respond to everything and learn from everyone.
