8th Shoot - Bedroom Three
This shoot would revisit the shots that I had done here previously, but following on from my feedback I would shoot more intuitively. I had been concerned that I was not getting enough into the images with my 50mm and had borrowed a 24mm lens from the university kit room to get a wider shot. One of the things which I suppose form part of my ‘style’s that I shoot 50mm. I love my 50mm lens and I an very comfortable with my kit. This is not to say that I am unable to embrace and adjust to alternative equipment and techniques BUT when I was told to shoot more intuitively, my first instinct was to use my 50mm. With this in mind, I now had a sitter (my daughter) and the light was good, so we began to shoot.
I was not keen to over dress the ‘set’ but I did move a fews thing about including a mirror. I was keen to capture my daughter with her dog and they have a very strong bond. I also wanted to use the (full length) mirror, or at least experiment with it.
Image taken with a full length mirror, the Camera Obscura effect can be seen in the reflection of the smaller mirror and on the wall. I had moved the L O V E ornament to the top shelf as I wanted it in the frame. Image taken by Chris Arrondelle - Canon 5d mkII - Sigma Art 50mm lens.
The dogs did very well to sit for a relatively long shutter exposure. Image taken by Chris Arrondelle - Canon 5d mkII - Sigma Art 50mm lens.
The dark room, long shutter times and altering the poses can take a bit of a toll on the sitters I have found, so I tent to take a number of shots, have a little break for the sitter (when I will review the images) and then we will go again. I reviewed the images and felt that I had put to much focus onto the mirror, and not enough focus onto my daughter. The mirror (I felt) was just an effect and the effect was to put a distance between myself and her. This was not what I wanted to capture in the images, I wanted more intimacy. In my opinion, what had worked with my son and his friends was the feeling of being in the room with them. I n these images with the mirror felt detached.
A second round of shooting dismissed the mirror, and the dogs to focus on the sitter, and create a lille more intimacy. Image taken by Chris Arrondelle - Canon 5d mkII - Sigma Art 50mm lens.
Having dismissed the mirror we shot again. This time I also asked my daughter to remove her glasses. This was both to counter a nasty reflection that I seemed unable to avoid, but also (again) to create a little more intimacy. I was far happier with the resulting images, and really felt that I had shot intuitively, or at last my interpretation of that. My next step would be to re-shoot my son, and his room. The images of him and his friends had made me re-consider the story that I was trying to tell with these images beyond the Camera Obscura technique. There was a vulnerability that was coming across in these images that I wanted to explore and question more.