Week 8: Ice Rink

Dusty

What to do on a clown portrait shoot when it rains and also the sun sets at practically 4:30 in the afternoon?

Well, it turns out you get creative. I thought to myself... where can I find really really bright lights? This led us to the roller hockey court at the arc, where a freshly rained court turned into a magical icy wonderland. Seriously, I couldn't be happier with the way our negative shooting circumstances turned into a aperture and magical depth of field experience. 

Looking at this picture, I feel like I never would have known that it was a sports court and a parking garage. The way the bright beaming white lights hit the water seriously fools me into thinking the ground is somehow icy. The frame becomes so deep as we see all of the ground behind the subject. The soft focus little baby fresnel lights are in fact lights from the parking garage, but are so deep into the frame that they become super soft focus and also look like twinkling little stars. Had there only been front light on my subject, I would not be able to experience the depth of our surroundings. The light coming from behind him in many different forms, both source and reflection, allow us to experience the context of the scene. 

The deeper you pull something out of the field of focus, the more things it can become in a photograph. I'm trying to translate this to stage lighting, and I suppose it makes sense. When you throw really harsh light on something, there is no tricking the audience into believing it is anything else other than what you are exposing it to be. Soft smudged strokes could potentially give an scene room to make magic happen or allow the audience to make assumptions.