DIVNE

On February 29th, I was honored to give a presentation on Architectural Photography sponsored by DIVNE (Design Industry Vendors of New England) at the showroom of 60 Nobscot in Sudbury. Rather than show a series of pretty pictures (though there was a few of those). The showroom, 60 Nobscot is set in an antique barn with vertical wide plank board walls and exposed beams. Wanting to engage the audience whom may never have experienced a professional photo shoot, I entrusted Interior Designer Ana Donohue to create a vignette that I would photograph and then ask five guests to photograph that evening. The guests would use my camera and my lighting, leaving only the composition in their trusted hands and eye. Ana, of course went over and above to create a wonderful, graphically inspired vignette that would certainly read very strong on "film". After seeing some shots of the completed space, I loaded my car with several dozen art books and a throw from my Living Room (you never know when you need a throw), stopped at Whole Foods for food and flowers and headed to Sudbury to photograph the space. 

with Kris Shaffer, photograph by Ray Bachand 2012

On the night of the event, we selected five names and offered them each a chance to give us their best shot. After a quick lesson on how to hold the camera and which button to press:) It was very interesting for me to watch each guest scan the space while looking through the camera, then unexpectedly they each did something I wasn't anticipating. They got down on one knee and tried to level out the camera as best they could. Camera position (the camera must always be level) and camera height (generally lower than you think) are two very important steps to creating images that are technically correct. All vertical lines should be vertical and when the camera sees the space at say seated height the scale of the objects within that frame feel better within the context of the room. 


I hadn't shown anyone the shots I had come up with the day before, and since music has always been an intricate part of my environment, I created a fun little show to present the shots to everyone.


The night ended with a standing ovation (my first) and I was truly humbled and genuinely touched by all of the very generous compliments afterwards.


So thank you to everyone whom made this leap day very special.


Here is the link to the slide show (please note I've set this to only work on a computer (laptop/desktop), will not work on iPhone or iPad, sorry).


http://gallery.me.com/mjleema#100128

Warm Regards,


Michael