Photographing Strangers

Monday 15 March, 2010

The class with Paul Mobley started today- “Capturing the Soul in Portraits”. a He is a lovely man and very enthusiastic but he talked soooo much that my brain was hurting. It was info overload but really great stuff. His work focuses on getting in really close to the subject and building a rapport with them. He gave his own story as a photographer which was really interesting that he started out at the bottom and just didn't quit. His Dad was not supportive of his career at all which was clearly not easy for him. Dad wanted him to go to NY city to be a banker, not a poor struggling photographer. Paul caught the Greyhound bus from Detroit to New York and visited 5-10 photography studios per day for a couple of weeks to get work. His first pay cheque was $70- per 40 hour week.He was quite open about his faults and cockiness when he started out. He was more of a technician than an artist.

My class is big again- 15 people. However, we apparently have one model between 2 this week which should be better than one between 4. Half of us showed our portfolios. They were definitely weaker than my class from last week. He only commented on one of my photos which he sad need to be more tightly cropped- the one of Bunty at the wedding. He hardly said anything about people's work. Last week Raul nit-picked each shot. Each teacher is so different. I hope Paul is going to be tough on our work because that is the only way to learn.

Today Gail and I went out to the Plaza to do portraits of “interesting” looking people. Gail is from Northern California wine country. She and her husband are really into food and wine tours.

We were talent scouting around town. I would go up to each person of interest and say: “Hi, my name is Annwyn and I have come over from to New Zealand to study photography. May I take your photo please? I will send you a photo if you like.” Only 2 people said no. I got seven portraits of varying quality. It gets easier to do and most people are flattered that you want their photo. One guy looked at me suspiciously and said: What are you going to do with the photos? Don't put me on the internet.”

In the evening Gail and I met up with Toni and Liz (both from San Diego) at Evangelos Bar. Ihad a glass of Merlot from California. Yum. Then we had dinner at Plaza Cafe- I had blue corn enchiladas with beef.

At 8pm, we saw the teachers' slide night. Paul Mobley and Joe McNally presented their work. Joe's is super bling with lights all over the place. Each shot is very staged and very beautiful and dramatic. I loved his work but it's not my style personally. Paul's work grabbed me more because you could see into the subject's eyes and wonder about their story. He used more varied lighting techniques than Joe, using lots of available light and real people. Joe is more of a celebrity photographer. I guess for me it is a case of KISS- keep it simple stupid. All that lighting rig set up gets in the way between the photographer and the subject. It acts like a barrier and I think prevents the story from getting through. I also wonder what the use is for most photographers of doing that course. Who has a spare $100,000+ to buy all the lighting gear that someone like Joe McNally uses?