FRAMING A PHOTO

The reflection of a couple embracing is framed by a mirror.

FRAME FAN
by Sasha Suarez
IPC Visual Lab Student

During our photography class on 10/8 in the pouring rain, we got the assignment to find pictures with the framing technique. Framing is a photographic composition technique used to enhance the overall result of a photo and to draw attention to the subject. It is using compositional framing from natural or man-made objects within the photo itself. In the adjacent photo, your attention is drawn to the couple in the mirror and not the colorful dream weavers hanging to the right of it.   http://www.digital-photography-school.com/creative-compositions-finding-framing 

Visitors scurry and shield themselves from the rain at the LHCC.

We went outside for the assignment and I really was so focused on the rain that I missed this huge framing object that was starring right at me.  Teacher C.W. Griffin told me "look", "look" and when I saw I really saw.  It was a different kind of seeing, one in which you think you solved a riddle. These photos show the whole scene outside of the Little Haiti Cultural Arts Center.

 Using the frame to draw attention to the moment is like having a secret you can't wait to tell someone you have.  It is amplifying your subject 10x.  Once I captured a couple of these pictures, I got it.  It is similar to an artist drawing a border around his subject or using the frame itself to draw the attention of his subject. 

Right: Young visitors share an umbrella as they make their way to the gallery at the Little Haiti Cultural Center.

From there I saw this one photo that caught my eye, these children in the rain really portrayed what was going on at the moment, the children’s smiles, the rain, the umbrella all caught through this one little frame.   If you ever visit this Little Haiti Cultural Arts Center and notice these frames, you will be compelled to get someone or something framed. I know I will never forget this technique thanks to CW Griffin pointing out the obvious, which at the time was not so obvious. 

 

My name is Sacha Suarez and I took this class to challenge my creative spirit and be inspired by amazing photographers, CW Griffin and Carl Juste.  I am getting more than inspiration; I am learning the foundation of photography techniques and applying them in all that I see in this beautiful world and a huge fan of the Frame technique!

Portraits in the Dark

by Jennifer Kay

It’s one thing to shoot a portrait when the subject sits still, in good light and your camera cooperates. That wasn’t my assignment, though. That would be too easy.

My job was to shoot portraits of R&B singer Shenita Hunt and her band during a nighttime concert at The Clevelander, a South Beach bar with an outdoor stage. 

The band took the stage first and started playing, leaving an open space under the strobe lights for Shenita. Mid-song, she stepped up to the microphone, and that’s when I realized what my problems were going to be. 

Shenita and her band members weren’t just in constant motion -- they were in constant motion under flashing strobe lights that were constantly changing colors. Also, no one in the bar thought to turn on the spotlight until halfway through their first set. Then, when Shenita stepped into the dancing crowd to sing, I had to follow her into the spaces where she turned her face to catch the stage lights.

A couple dances to the music of Shenita Hunt and her band at The Clevelander on South Beach, Fla.



My new camera was often reluctant to focus in the dark. I tried not to worry about it and prioritized composition instead. I had to figure out how to keep the background of each frame clean, while trying to avoid distracting hot spots from the stage lights. In the dark, it was harder to show little details on stage, such as the set list taped to the floor. 

                                                                        Detail shot of the set list.

Shenita struts her stuff on stage.

I had to work to keep the foregrounds of each frame clean, too. To shoot around the mic stands and music stands obscuring Shenita and the band, I sat on the ground in front of the stage or from a sharp angle from the side of the stage. I tried to hold the focus on Shenita’s face while she was singing, waiting for the moments when she pulled the microphone away from her face or turned to the side. 

Early in the band’s first stand, the crowd wasn’t dancing much. Since they lacked energy from the crowd, Shenita and the bassist focused their musical energies on each other. They watched each other, taking turns grooving to the beat. The other band members, bobbing their heads, turned to look but stayed out of their space. Finally, one couple stepped up to the dance floor, joined hands and danced along.

As musicians play off to the vocals of Shenita Hunt during their Oct. 13 performance at The Clevelander.

I shot a couple hundred frames throughout the concert, and I came away with seven that I thought were worth showing here. Next time I shoot a concert, though, I’ll know what to expect from the lights, the stage and my camera, instead of just shooting in the dark.

Portrait Series

Steve Jobs, circa 2006 by Albert Watson

GAME FACES
by Jennifer Kay

Assignment: Find portraits along the sidelines of a high school football game.

Last week, Apple honored Steve Jobs by posting Albert Watson’s 2006 portrait of Jobs on its webpage. The innovator wasn’t remembered with pictures of his products, or a spreadsheet of his company’s financial success or a timeline of his years with the company. Jobs was remembered instead with a simple portrait shot on film.

The black and white image does what portraiture is supposed to do -- it transcends merely showing Jobs’ physical characteristics by revealing something important about Jobs. The simplicity of the composition reflects Jobs’ insistence on the cleanest, most elegant design for his products and for his consumers’ experience with those products. The portrait reveals Jobs’ role as the driving force behind Apple’s designs.

The challenge I faced in shooting portraits at a high school football game last week was how to show the roles the players, cheerleaders and band members were performing that night. These kids have other aspects of their personalities, other interests, but when they put those uniforms on for the Southwest-Braddock game, they took on specific roles.





Instead of watching the action on the field, I looked for quieter moments on the sidelines. I looked for the players sitting on the bench, not resting but tense and emotionally still on the field as the score flip-flopped. I found cheerleaders giggling and mugging for the camera, no matter what the scoreboard said. I watched a saxophonist line up for the half-time show with, inexplicably, two instruments in his hands.

I tried to shoot a portrait of a high school football game, not just portraits of the students on the sidelines. If we pulled these students off the field and into a studio for formal portraits, would those images still reveal something truthful about them?

Jennifer's View Blog #1

I got a new camera and flash for this semester, and in demonstrating how they work together, Carl took my picture. Over and over. The angle of the flash created different effects, but in most of the frames, my expression is the same. My expression reads, "I do not like having my picture taken, especially not over and over." It's a fact about me. I just don't like having my picture taken. I know that discomfort and tension comes through in each frame, and that makes the experience worse, and then each frame looks more anxious. I dislike it so much that I can't understand why people sit for portraits. I don't even like looking at portraits that much. In my eyes, most portraits are unnatural, forced, an interruption.  

So, naturally, Carl has made portraiture my focus for this semester.

The first task is defining the difference between portraits and moments. Both succeed with the right lighting and composition, though those elements are more formalized in portraits. Can portraits be pulled out of moments? Yes. Are all moments portraits? No. Neither is just "a picture of something," because portraits and moments seek to visually reveal something more than just a person's existence in a particular space and time. The difference, to me, is a moment is an invitation and a portrait is a confrontation.

I resist formal portraits because they seem too brash, too harsh, too easy to just break down into shapes held together by the frame or the background. I'm more interested in what moments reveal: the small gestures, the casual, the careless, the slight. I like the motion in moments, the idea that the motion continues in an infinite line beyond the frame. I look more closely at portraits captured in moments because they reveal more than just information about that person -- they reveal what that person does in the space around him without stopping him, showing the process and not just the result. I look longer at David Lee's image of Vinny and Denise (from his brother's film "Jungle Fever") in the front seat of a car: the lines and angles created by Vinny's outstretched arm and the car's interior, Denise's sidelong glance, how close they are to each other and how far they are from the blur of people gathered on the other side of the street. In contrast, Lee's formal band portrait from "Mo' Better Blues" shows the band's hierarchy, but the music is paused, and they're musicians without a stage.

These images of my friend Michael are my attempts to shoot a portrait last semester. I was satisfied that they showed the person I recognize, but do they reveal what's important about him? How will I push my attempts at portraiture further?