The secret is out. After hiding for days undetected in a flight case backstage at English National Ballet in order to obtain this world exclusive photograph I can now reveal how English National Ballet store their dancers at night! I always wondered why nobody ever saw them leave by the stage door after the show. Now we know. They hang them up in the wings along with their costumes! They are all there like bats hanging. The only difference is they are not upside down.
I was horrified and appalled until I realised that the dancer pictured Desiree was smiling. It actually makes them happy. Amazing.
More secrets as and when I can bring them. Its a dangerous job but somebody has to do it.
My friend Paul Grundy the architectural photographer likes photographing things that preferably don’t move or talk back. Most buildings fit that category so when his wife Sarah who is a renowned film and televison makeup artist wanted some portraits of her work shooting to go toward a branding campaign he asked me if I would help and of course I jumped at the chance. The brief was sort of the right people in the wrong makeup. We came up with various ideas and settled on a few for the day. Casting was straightforward until we got to the skinhead. We couldn’t find one in time it seemed so I said “could you do it on me?” Have you ever wished you hadn’t opened your gob? This was one of those moments.
Now that it has been done….I am amazed and confused at how cool it looks even if I do say so myself! Plus it perfectly fitted the brief. My friend Marian Alonso actually took the picture.
So. I turn up at a gig yesterday evening quite early as I usually do. I am standing around getting my bearings deciding where might be the best place to position myself in this small venue that is set up like a dingy WWll era cabaret bar when “man under pressure” (MUP) approaches me:
MUP: “Are you Gary?”
ME: “No I am Patrick the photographer”
MUP: “Oh I thought you were an artist” (MUP walks off)
Well at least I know now. All that angst I have about whether I am an artist lifted off my shoulders just like that.
I have a lot of different equipment for different types of jobs. One day could be three DSLRs mounted on a camera bar on a tripod pointed at a stage to photograph ballet using available light. The next day could be PR photography with two or three cameras round my neck with flashes being fed from an external Quantum battery on my belt. Then it might be in a studio set up with my medium format digital back and camera and all the mains flash and softboxes I can find in my house! Not forgetting that one job may require me taking an iMac or a laptop along for tethered shooting while the other two don’t need a computer at all. The problem with all these varied requirements is remembering to pack everything I need for each job. I have had some very near misses and had to improvise quite creatively on occasion. Not good for my stress levels.
I decided I needed to create a form of checklist for each job that I could tick off and avoid having to stop on the way to a job to yet again buy an extension lead or roll of gaffer tape. While I was deciding quite how to do this I stumbled across an application for my iPhone that allows you to create packing lists. Its a free app called Frommer’s Travel Tools, they of the famous travel guides of course. Its actually aimed at tourists and has city guides and a currency converter among other things but the packing list tool is perfect for my needs. Its available here: iTunes. Now I just have to remember not lose my iPhone!
This is the first time I have photographed flamenco. So I started at the top! Sara Baras is one of the finest flamenco dancers in the world and appeared at The Royal Albert Hall. The energy that she and her entire company displayed was extraordinary. It was all quiet passion punctuated with moments of sheer violence in the dancing. The speed of her footwork is astonishing. I was told she was carrying an injury. I’m not at all surprised but you would never have guessed from watching her. My Spanish friend and fellow photographer Marian Alonso was furiously jealous of me photographing her.
Photography at the Albert Hall has its own challenges. There are a lot of places where I can get into a great position for an image but almost invariably it is during an actual performance. As far as I am concerned if people have paid money to be there then I have no right to compromise their enjoyment by distracting them with my camera. With this in mind I am always as discreet as possible…as discreet as its possible to be while wearing three cameras with long lenses attached! I have never had any complaints yet. Actually a lot of people are quite interested in what I’m doing so I usually have to answer a few questions during intervals which I’m quite happy to do. Any noise from my cameras shutters was completely buried by the amplified sound of the shoes on the stage. It was like machine gun fire at times.
The image below was taken from the front at one end of the stage area about twenty feet away. Between me and her was an immovable object in the shape of a Buddha like security guard so I had to shoot either side of him chasing her round the stage with my 300mm lens.
To quote from their site that says it as succintly as possible:
“Images without Borders provides stunning images from world class photographers working around the globe offered to the public at a special price for this project. All profits go directly to Doctors without Borders, less only the cost of printing.”
This initiative is designed to raise money for Doctors Without Borders also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.
It is possible to buy prints that have been donated by the photographers with all profits being given to Doctors Without Borders.
Below is a slideshow of donated images so far. Clicking on your image of choice will take you to where it can be purchased as a print or as an iPhone image.
If you are viewing this post on an iPhone unfortunately you cannot see the slideshow but click on the links to see the galleries.
