We recently completed our first short course that combined tuition and guidance on both portraiture and darkroom technique.
Our two students, Alicia Wilson and Payton McHugh, both arrived as self-confessed ‘portraitphobes’, intimidated and terrified by the prospect of taking more than a snatched snap of a friend! In the first week, they were given a presentation by one of the course-leaders, Charles Cave, on some of his favourite portrait photographers, before being thrown in at the deep-end and sent off to shoot some street portraits.
Working with model, Anna Maxton, our two students explored the local neighbourhood, looking for interesting backdrops and unusual angles, and battling the challenges of unseasonably bright sunshine!
The following week Alicia and Payton returned to scrutinise their contact sheets and decide which images they wanted to print. Darkroom’s Phil Grey guided them through the darkroom fundamentals and by the end of the session both had managed to print a few stunning portraits.
Week three was in the studio, discovering the challenges, wonder and joy of working with controlled lighting. Now they could put the shadows where they wanted them and were not at the mercy of an uncooperative sun! Taking it in turn to be model or photographer, Alicia and Payton explored how the position and size of the light source can radically alter a person’s face and the look of the resulting portrait. Working digitally on this occasion, meant that they could see the outcomes immediately and tweak the arrangements.
Having refined their technique and established which of the lighting set-ups our students liked best, they returned there to work with another model, Connie Allisat. With the confidence that the practice session had given them, Alicia and Payton were able to set their preferred lighting states and work comfortably with their sitter, to create a varied and dynamic range of portraits on 35mm and medium format film.
Returning to the darkroom, over the next fortnight they honed their printing skills, finishing up by making some exquisite fibre prints of the images shot in the studio.
The course was rounded off with an exhibition of the work produced, which looked fabulous in our gallery space. Alicia and Payton were excited to see their finished work on the wall and agreed that it had been an amazing journey as they reflected on their achievements over the previous six weeks.
