Duck, People
Over the years, various magazine photo editors have contacted me when they were doing stories about people living and working in my area of New England. What each editor usually wanted was an inventive and compelling portrait of the person being profiled - something to make the reader pause and actually read the article the picture was going to accompany. My job, therefore, was to take often ordinary-looking people and locations (mostly in and around the subject's office) and transform them into, hopefully, something more interesting.
I’ve always enjoyed this type of assignment. They’ve stirred my creative juices and given me opportunities to build my portfolio which, in turn, has led to additional similar assignments.
With these portraits in mind, I decided to do a series that would be more creative and goofier than what I was being contracted for. Here's why:
I wanted these photos to look substantially different from one another, but also thought there should be a common element in each one that would connect the series. I searched for a unifying object and finally came up with the idea of employing rubber ducks.
The portraits were done using friends and acquaintances. Some were fellow photographers. I began each photo session with either a general or specific idea of what I wanted to achieve. But as the shoot progressed, and as the subject began to understand what I was trying to accomplish, we'd end up bouncing around posing ideas with each other. We always came up with at least one setup that I thought worked quite well.
I’ve always enjoyed this type of assignment. They’ve stirred my creative juices and given me opportunities to build my portfolio which, in turn, has led to additional similar assignments.
With these portraits in mind, I decided to do a series that would be more creative and goofier than what I was being contracted for. Here's why:
- I wanted to test out some ideas I'd been collecting on subject expressions and positioning, lighting, camera placement, prop use, and editing.
- I wanted to show my current and prospective clients that I could create images that were more unconventional than those in my existing portfolio.
- I thought it would be a fun series to do.
- I was hoping that one or more of the pictures could be used for bartering photo equipment and provide me with a bit of publicity.
I wanted these photos to look substantially different from one another, but also thought there should be a common element in each one that would connect the series. I searched for a unifying object and finally came up with the idea of employing rubber ducks.
The portraits were done using friends and acquaintances. Some were fellow photographers. I began each photo session with either a general or specific idea of what I wanted to achieve. But as the shoot progressed, and as the subject began to understand what I was trying to accomplish, we'd end up bouncing around posing ideas with each other. We always came up with at least one setup that I thought worked quite well.
