Photo Blog
Another dark night in New York, illuminated by the extensive kit and wit of a photographer with a vision
Joe Mcnally takes a laundrette and turns it into a crime scene
Awash and dry in Brooklyn. A horrific discovery in a dryer. It’s not just the underwear and towels in there with the sheets. It’s a ballerina who will never tread the boards in the big city again. Evidently strangled with the ribbons of her own pointe shoes. Which could be construed to be ironical, if you are into those sorts of notions, of course.
Enter NY detective Nik Night. And, a possible suspect. No camera surveillance in the laundromat. Her word only, that she found the young dancer in the dryer. The fact that she, too, is a ballerina raises Nik’s suspicions. Competitive jealously? Fight over a role? A boyfriend? She claims to know nothing, in the most offhand of ways.
Lights, camera, action
And, enter the lights and colours! We went to town on this, a thorough, mad dash into the valley of the gels. We lit the place, basically from back to front, with big flashes on the street (Profoto B-4 units). Technically, they are not on the street, they are clamped to the roof rack of my truck. And the packs are inside the locked vehicle. In New York, you don’t leave a B-4 unit on the street – you’ll be shooting with available light quickly.
Inside, a mix of Profoto B10 Plus units and A1X for accents. The B10 Plus has been a revelation! Light, fast, powerful, absurdly easy to use. And the A1X is, as they say, the world’s smallest studio flash. Stick ’em anywhere. Like in a dryer.
Mayhem on the set! Many thanks to photographer Seth Miranda for all the help and for shooting these fun BTS images! Seth is a great example of a talented young photog who has been able to branch out from shooting into teaching. He’s a wonderfully informed reporter on all manner of trends, gear and developments in our industry. Seth also partners Daniel Norton, another fine photographer, who is an encyclopedia of lighting and teaches shooting skills wonderfully.
Scene of the crime
The beauty of how Profoto has diversified their lineup of flashes is that you can go from small size and power, to big size and power, all from the Air Remote. Which was great for me; I had so many groups going I lost count of where things were and what set of lights corresponded to A, B, C, etc. I used only one light shaper for the talent on the set. Everything else was raw light, with some sort of gel on it.
The trick of the lights was to create this crime scene, and emphasize the colours of the night, or whatever might have already been at the wash and dry. We took some liberties, lighting up the interiors of the dryers, which don’t actually have sources of illumination.
Many thanks to our talented models! Larena Danielle Poole, our (alleged) perpetrator; our hapless dancer in the dryer, Erica Lynn
Bridge; and our weary, seen-it-all gumshoe, Nik Pjeternikaj.
Fernando Martinez shot fun video, and marshalled the work through the editing process. Thank you, Fernando! And thanks to the hard-working photographers Dustin Samman and Xzavian Cookbey, who hung in there into the wee hours of the morning. They were all terrific.
It was a truly fantastic place for a shoot, with plenty of real character. There was quite a bit of bemusement among the owners about what we were doing, but they happily rolled with it and the whole crew laughed all night long.
The trick of the lights was to create this crime scene, and emphasize the colours of the night