'The most interesting light often comes from behind the subject.'
Writing about photography, especially with a focus on the male form, I often comment on the use of shadow, and of the artists use of black and white and dark and light. Some define 'white' as the absence of color, but black, and especially white are the illuminator's, highlighting the color, detail and beauty of the subject in focus.
When it comes to art, I tend to prefer simplicity. When I first began FH I knew I wanted to surround the images I was featuring with a solid cutter and minimal clutter. I went through many site designs, and many site banners, but ultimately, it came down to the basics, a black background, white text and just a touch of grey to provide a visual separation between titles and text.
'Stark White' gets a bad rap, yes, it's usually the look and feel of most empty rooms and apartments, but there's a reason for that. In addition to our personal relationships with color, stark white spaces stokes the artist in us, inviting our imagination to visualize and create how we best fill the space with our own personal vision of beauty.
Together, artists Baker and Adams beautifully utilize their cloak of white to frame and spotlight the model they're shooting. In the last couple of pieces I have done on their work, (HERE:) Baker and Adams have used a stunning wall of white
'The most interesting light often comes from behind the subject. In this case, by lighting the background instead of the model, the back wall and floor become large soft sources that wrap around Kenny from behind and below, creating soft specular highlights in his skin that bring out form and shape.'
'This also creates a wide range of tonalities, which contrasts nicely against the stark white background. I lit the back wall with strobes and prevented any direct light from hitting the model. This lit both the floor and some 4'x8' foam core bounce cards placed near the camera for fill.'
As you can beautifully see from the imagery, Kenny is a dancer, and it was his background in dance that initially led Baker and Adams to pursue working together. Baker and Adams beautifully blend the sensual and erotic with the elegance and strength in Kenny's dance moves. Although I love the shots of Kenny in black and jean material, I especially love the layers of white created with Kenny's skin, tan lines and his white shirt.
'For the shoot, we worked to build images that blended Kenny's dance skills with his playful and upbeat personality. With Kenny's dance background, we found his body to be more relaxed than many of our prior models. However, a challenge I quickly discovered was how best to direct a dancer. With no real dance background myself, it quickly became important for me to learn how to properly communicate desired moves and actions with greater clarity and detail.
No comments:
Post a Comment