Photographing the arts: talking production photography on the Closing Night Theatre Therapy podcast
I had a chat recently with hosts Nate Edmondson and Suzy Wrong at the Closing Night: Theatre Therapy podcast, along with photographer Clare Hawley, about what’s involved in theatre photography - the business, as well as the art - and that episode has just been released over the weekend.
We talk about a lot of different elements of what we do, so I though I’d put together a few links here to some of my blog posts that overlap with the discussion, in case anyone wants to read more about a certain subject - or if I make more sense in writing than I do on the radio!
Myself and Clare Hawley, photo by Suzy Wrong
These are few of the topics we covered, that I’ve written about previously here:
how early do I get involved in a show - or is the dress rehearsal the first time I see anything, while I’m photographing it?
how do I prepare to photograph a production, and maximise my chances of getting the images I need? What skills are involved?
am I capturing the show / framing the images ‘faithfully’, or subjectively? What makes a great production image?
how many images do I take in the course of a rehearsal, and how do I choose which ones the client sees?
how do I edit the images - individually, or as a batch? Should an image stand on its own, or be seen within the arc of a performance?
whose needs am I considering when I’m photographing a show; how do I keep everyone happy?
what are companies permitted to do with images once I deliver them - whose images are they?
are some venues more challenging than others, like a traverse stage? How do I work with (or against) the space?
how important it is to keep up with technology and update my electronics? How do I keep my images safe?
working with nudity in rehearsal - how do I decide what to include or exclude from an image?
does working long term with a director or company make a difference in my work?
do some photographers have a certain style that’s recognisable, or do I alter my style to suit each individual production?
I’ve probably missed a few topics from our discussion - but that’s also a lot of reading right there, for anyone who’s interested! Feel free to drop me a line or comment below if there’s more you’d like to know, about anything we discussed; it might just turn out to be the start of my next essay…!
Thanks again to Nate & Suzy for having us on the show, as you can tell from the recording it was a fun morning and an interesting discussion to have - and naturally there are more episodes available, and new ones come up regularly; so subscribe wherever you prefer to get your podcasts from…!