Eddie Coffey & Shooting Portraits With An 8x10

My neighbour Kevin often hosts musician Eddie Coffey for a stopover on his many gigs. He is a very interesting guy, a real hard working musician from The Rock. For years I have wanted to photograph him so last time he was down we did a quick shoot using the 8x10 Deardorff. For the last series of shots we did that day we got his accordion, and for me, a spark ignited in him once he got his hands on his accordion and started to play.

They also mentioned that they might be using these shots for an album/CD cover, so I mocked up this design and title for them.  I was doing some research on Newfoundland sayings and I love this one especially for Eddie as he is always on the go.  The saying means a good wish for the future, may there always be wind in your sails a nice sentiment, Long May Your Big Jib Draw everyone. Very curious to see if they like the shots and the album cover design.

Tips & Why Use Large Format

8x10 film produces some of the most detailed images you will ever see and it has amazing latitude for exposure. It is very hard screw up your exposure given the film's latitude. I love shooting with this camera looking through he back of the camera is magical, the world is upside and reversed. It forces you to slow down and focus on what you are doing.

For the first time shooter or those getting into portraiture this is not the camera for you though there is too many things to remember and do. Focusing, metering, stopping down the lens, inserting the film, reversing the dark slide, etc... When you feel more comfortable posing and talking with clients then step up to this beautiful beast. Tips, for any student of photography I highly recommend trying out a large format camera while in school. The experience will alter your perspective or, at the very least, make you appreciate digital capture even more. Besides slowing you down while photographing with a view camera it will also brings back a little of the magic of photography for the client and yourself, because the camera is so big and looks so simple and archaic it could never produce an image. I always try to let the client view the back of the camera too, this just amazes them how big and bright the image is under the dark cloth.

So for my students come see me and I can hook you up!!

Reflections On The Shoot

I really like using the tilt on the this camera but the 8x10 field camera is not very precise and is missing a front swing and very limited rear movements. I do have access to a Sinar P2 which has the full range of view camera movements and very precise handling so I might be using this for some of the images for my MA. For my Emerging From Darkness series I want to incorporate the use of movements to give the appearance of the subject not only emerging from darkness but also focus. So the use of camera movement is something I will revisit but with a more precise camera.

American Collage

There is something about collaging that I like, the freedom to design something with other people's images and create something new is so much fun.  So while my students were working on their collage projects in class I decided to make my own.

History Of Collage

Collage was born out of contrast, originally the term was coined by Braque and Picasso who used the technique during their Cubist period to add textured fabrics to their paintings.  This added a strong contrast to their paintings both visually and texturally. The technique was then co-opted by the Dadaists as a form of political protest, used brilliantly by Hannah Höch in Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Beer-Belly of the Weimar Republic, 1919.  Since then collage has often been used as a means of protest or social critique.  The use of iconic figures, images and symbols add depth and context to a collage and deepens the meaning of the work.  

Collage is derived from the French word coller - to glue.   

Inspiration For My Work

1. The amazing artist Barbara Kruger, love her strong use of the colour red, her use of black and white images and text.
2. Colour was inspired by the America Flag, have always loved Jasper Johns' version.
3. The April 1968 Esquire cover of Muhammad’ Ali by Carl Fisher & George Lois referencing the martyrdom of St. Sebastian. 

Rationale For My Work

Trump and Reagan for me are two sides of the same coin so I had to use them both, plus they both remind me of the 80s.  I added the Make America Great Again hat on the Reagans and turned it like a Rapper would wear a hat, because I find it interesting that America appropriates black culture and at the same time acts horribly racist against their black citizens.  Also Reagan for me was a puppet President, a pawn of big business, so a cardboard standee is appropriate.   The red spikes reference the arrows from th Ali Esquire image and the Saint being martyred is the dream of America.  However, at the same time I see hope in this too, like Gloria Steinem said:

“The truth will set you free, but it will piss you off first.”

So the election of Trump seems to have pissed people off and awakened a renewed social consciousness in many.   Which has helped give rise and fuel to the Me Too & Black Lives Matter movements and others which is a great to see.  

Walking around the room at the end of class it was inspiring see so many political and social collages by the students.  I often hear criticism about this generation not being politically or socially engaged. This has never been my experience, you just need to take the time to listen.

Image Sources

Images sourced online, I do not own any of the rights to these images, images used inside the Trump cut out: 

1. Newsweek article on the Black Lives Matter movement.
2. Time magazine’s Person of the Year The Silence Breakers cover.  
3. Images from the January 2017 Woman’s March against Trump in Washington.  

Citations 

1. “Collage.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collage.
2. “A Brief History of Collage.” Sugarlift, www.sugarlift.com/blogs/the-blog/18603059-a-brief-history-of-collage.

One Of Those Day

When Photoshop crashes and nothing was saved!!