Season of the Witch

This is the second or third year I have done the Shakespeare covers for Shakespeare in the Park. Each year I am given three plays that I need to do a dramatic cover for. Problem is I rarely if ever know the story that the play is about so I end up asking the actors whether their character is, nice, mean, scary, funny, or whatever. This year was a little more difficult in that for more reasons than I care to relive the shoots were postponed, or put off until the Wednesday before the designer needed to put them on the page so each week I was under the proverbial gun. Today’s shoot with Rachel Rogers was no different. No one could reach her for a few days and once I did get to talk to her it was all about what her costume was, what it looked like, and if she had any input on what a good setting would be. We both came up with a few ideas and decided to meet at the Herald-Leader studio for the shoot. The big problem there is I don’t like shooting in the studio. It all tends to feel like it all looks the same and it kind of does after 10+ years of working here. My goal was to get some kind of shot and then head outside possibly to a fountain around town we could shoot in. Her character melts in the play so the water sounded good and different. I figured I could light her from the front and use the reflection to make an impact. As the day went on the hard rain continued ending that idea so it was up to us in the studio to make it happen. I did everything I could with the lights using grid spots, barn doors, and bare bulbs, whatever I could to try to get a good look. I even looked out in the hallways around the studio for a location I could light but electrical outlets were strangely missing from the hallways so that was out too. I like to back light a lot of stuff so when she struck a pose with arms raised and the sheer material letting the light through I finally felt like I may have my shot. I worked hard on the other two covers finding good locations to shoot and making the most of them but with the weather and the late shoot date I had no choice but use the old trusty studio. There is/was a lot of potential for this photo. I only hope I reached some of that potential here. Thanks to Rachel for all her patience through my experimentation with the lights.

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