I always ask people I photograph if they have a location in mind, especially for environmental portraits. The location is telling the viewer of the photograph something about the personality of the subject, which most of the time I don’t know at all. It is therefore best to let the client pick a suitable location.
Lorna settled on an abandoned hospital in East Lothian. Somehow derelict locations tend to appeal to musicians. I like them too from a photographic standpoint, since these locations are typically rich with textures.
To warm up, I like to start with simple compositions. It is easier to get a nice shot quickly to build rapport with the subject. We both liked the red painted heart on the wall, and it turned out I could use the door to create a classic frame within a frame composition. The room behind Lorna was very dark and didn’t provide enough contrast with her black outfit, so I put a flash with a red gel in the room to add colour and depth to the image. Lorna and her signature Ida Nielsen Sandberg bass were inseparable during the shoot.
We next moved to another heart graffiti down the building and I worked on a couple of different compositions.
At some stage, a slight ray of sunlight appeared leading the viewer to Lorna’s face. It only lasted a few seconds, and I was lucky to capture the photo below, which is my favourite of the shoot.
I couldn’t pass up another opportunity for a frame in a frame composition, using leading lines this time to guide the viewer to Lorna.
Finally, as time was winding down, some wider shots were in order, to give Lorna a good variety of photographs to chose from.
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