PRO COLUMN
Portrait photographer Rory Lewis describes one of the highlights of his career
Celebrity portraitist Rory Lewis talks one of the highlights of his career – photographing Sir Patrick Stewart
Ihad assumed that only sheer luck or destiny would place Sir Patrick Stewart in front of my lens. How does one arrange a sitting with a screen icon? I began with Sir Patrick’s acting agency in London with little success. My letter was no doubt buried within a mountain of fan mail. Soon after though, I discovered that Sir Patrick was starring in Waiting
for Godot at New York’s Cort Theatre on Broadway. Another letter was dispatched.
To my astonishment, a reply came through just a few weeks later. Alas, what
I had originally thought to be success was a note from Sir Patrick, declining my invitation. Nevertheless, I composed a compelling reply urging Sir Patrick to reconsider. A few weeks passed by again until, out of the blue, an email from the man himself appeared in my inbox. Sir Patrick was accepting my offer. His acceptance however, came with one condition – the sitting would have to take place in New York.
To prepare for my sitting with Sir Patrick, I began by studying his portrait sitting with Nadav Kander, before watching his iconic role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star
Trek: The Next Generation and looking through a multitude of YouTube clips. Studying his profile, I had repeatedly found that Sir Patrick had primarily been photographed as if still embodied by one of his characters. However, Holbein’s portrait had given me the inspiration to portray Sir Patrick quite simply as himself – the thespian. No greens or reds, but simply a black backdrop, pierced by the harsh lighting that I knew would amplify every detail of Sir Patrick’s intense gaze.
In my style of simplicity, the portrait is all about the ocular. I focused his gaze across the lens, not into it, and an incredibly receptive Sir Patrick rapidly obliged me with a wonderful series of provocatively poised expressions.
I had the opportunity, for the last few minutes, to experiment and enjoy my time with this compelling and absorbing subject. Rather than looking to the familiar heroic roles that Stewart’s name is inherently synonymous with, I directed
Sir Patrick to assume the fierce, vengeful expressions of a calculated villain.
What emerged from this part of the session was a complex and vigorous character, embodied by energy and animation: a side of Sir Patrick that I thoroughly enjoyed watching unfold in front of my lens.