Hung Ceilings and Techno.

cut scene: Ohio, 1958. Camera slowly zooms on a man bubbling with fury, sitting in a chair in the dark..."These are the worst photographs ever taken. I feel like such a fool! Revenge will be mine. Not just on Photographer McSuck, but on photographers everywhere, for all time!" diabolical laughter echoes around the room...

The above is the only scenario I can consider when thinking of a Mr Don Brown, inventor of the dropped ceiling, simply because there is no other conceivable reason it exists. Let me explain.

Covered a job this weekend at a dance studio. Let me be clear, this studio was beautiful. It was, as most new commercial construction is, afflicted with a suspended ceiling. You know the kind: tiles, frame bars, sprinkler heads, recessed lights, fluorescent strips, air vents, exit signs. None of which are photogenic when trying to create artistic dance photography.

Thankfully, Kim wanted low-key shots which made the post-processing much less of a job than it could have been. Below is a comparative shot of the shot SOOC vs the one that was worked over. My heart will break a little every time I have to shoot around hung ceilings, and Don Brown will doubtless continue to haunt location photographers everywhere for some time to come.



Thankfully the shoot was a resounding success (in no small part to Kim who was patient and fun over 3 hours of shooting, and the wonderful She who held booms, reflectors and did round-offs while she thought no one was looking), and I was extremely happy with how things went. Technically the wireless system was flawless, and having that much room and flexibility to work with the strobes was cool. All of the concept ideas came through, and post-processing was a blast. If you haven't seen the slideshow yet, here you go...

Studio VIA from Steve Bowman on Vimeo.

As always I'll close with some music. I've had a few people ask about the track I used for the movie. It's definitely a departure from the last two blog entries of folky stuff. It's a remix of an Imogen Heap track, "Hide & Seek" done by Tiesto, (apparently featured on "In Search of Sunrise 6").

What can I say? I'm from europe. dance music is in my blood. Just like Wisconsinites have Polka in theirs...



Up next: Two shoots this weekend. Having looked around, a lot of photographers like to post thoughts and tips on how to help their readers make their own shots better. I would never be that presumptuous. Though I might have a couple of suggestions...