I was introduced to photography by the novelist Len Deighton who took part in an advertising campaign for the newly launched Olympus OM-1 back in
1972. I was tempted by the diminutive Olympus, but in the end I started out on my great adventure with a second-hand Nikon F and a battered but optically
sound 50mm f1.4 Nikkor. It was the biggest investment I had ever made, and it took me a long time to pay off the loan. I don’t regret it though and I have
enjoyed every day of photography since, always preferring to be out shooting rather than hidden away in the darkroom. I still have that camera today, sitting
proudly on the shelf in my ‘lightroom’.
Next up was a pair of Nikon F2s which I switched to for my main work in the mid to late seventies. This was mainly sport, (semi-professionally) since that
was my main interest at the time. I learned how to follow focus a manual 400 f3.5 on a running footballer, which is not an easy task! These days if you can
manage to wave a camera in the general direction of the action, you’re on the front cover of Sports Illustrated. Back in the day I considered myself lucky to
get a couple of good frames from a roll of 36 exposures. My gear stayed the same for a number of years, because unlike these days when we’re chasing
the latest spec, the old film cameras generally did the job just as well as any new ones that came along. If you wanted better resolution you used slower
film, assuming your glass was up to the task. When the F3 HP came along (what a beauty that high eyepoint viewfinder was!) I traded in the F2s but stuck
with the same lenses - 16, 20, 28, 50, 105 and 180. By that time I no longer needed the longer focal lengths as I had moved away from sport.
Fuji
I was a loyal Nikon user all the way up to the D3, but a serious back injury forced me to reconsider the weight I carried around, so I dipped my toe in the
‘Fuji waters’ with the diminutive X10. Weeks later I had to buy another for my wife who kept borrowing it. I took it on a Las Vegas holiday soon afterwards
and was delighted with the freedom it bestowed, so I embarked along the ‘more serious’ Fuji road with a pair of XE-1s, an 18mm f2.0, a 60mm macro and a
35mm f1.4 which has always been my favourite lens. Later I traded the XEs for a pair of XT-1s and additional primes which have served me well all over the
world. When the XPro-2 appeared on the scene I switched over to that as my main camera body and on the whole life was good! I was so happy! And then
Fuji announced their bombshell.
In the theatre I work mainly with primes, generally at full aperture, so when the Fuji XH-1 was announced with in body image stabilisation I just HAD to have
it! Suddenly my life changed again. My prime lenses were all stabilised and I could use ridiculous hand-held exposures such as 90mm @ f2, 1/15th sec and
end up with a sharp image!
Of course I’m not always working towards a scene that’s frozen in time, but frequently attempting to convey a sense of dynamism by shooting lowish shutter
speeds (1/8th, 1/15th, 1/30th etc.,) knowing they’ll result in subject movement in the final image. This technique has a relatively high failure rate, but as in
sport there is almost always a point of inflection where the subject becomes temporarily ‘still’ enough to yield a focused image. For me this kind of
movement is what gives a picture that ‘wow’ factor and it doesn’t need the latest technology to achieve it.
These days I use a pair of Fuji XH-1s for theatre and dance and an XT-3 in the street, all with battery grips. For lenses I use the 16, 23, 35, (all f1.4), the 56
f1.2 and the 90 f2 Fujinons which are all superb. The 18mm f2 gets a run out when I need to maintain a low profile.
Workflow
I’m perfectly happy with the JPEGs which come straight out of the camera and into Lightroom 6.0, (please don’t get me started on Adobe licensing
strategy) but I’m currently switching over to Exposure X5), which is where I use the star ratings to gradually triage (or should that be quintage?) the
images. Once graded 1-5 I throw away the zero and one ratings on the basis that with fives and fours available why would you ever look for something
worse?! Along with the occasional deletion of the star images (if I have plenty of the better ones) this keeps storage requirements down and helps with
later re-reviews and searches. I always shoot in colour (Velvia simulation) even though my end target is a monochrome image with the look and feel of
Kodak Tri-X. This is usually achieved by a simple monochrome conversion followed by a half or full stop increase in exposure followed by a boost in
contrast and presence and usually pushing the blacks down too, to deepen the shadows. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s what I’m accustomed
to! In the old days I used to shoot Tri-X which is why I look for that same high-contrast push-processed feel in my contemporary monochrome work. For
me, a monochrome image has a timeless feel to it. When you put a collection of mono prints together on a gallery wall they seem to bind together by a
kind of grayscale sympathy that sometimes makes colour hangings look a bit of a mess.
Theatre
In professional theatre there is rarely chance to shoot a production ‘live’ since audiences are prohibited from taking their own photographs and would
quite rightly be aggrieved if they saw someone else doing so. For that reason, production photos are usually taken during a dress rehearsal when all the
lighting and costumes are as they would be in a normal performance. Another opportunity is to shoot during early rehearsals, which are usually
conducted in a dedicated room that’s usually well lit. Beware though the dreaded fluorescents which cause banding and ugly colour shifts. Another
downside is that actors are in normal dress and the light will be flat - nowhere near as dramatic as that seen during the actual show or dress rehearsal.
That’s why I prefer to shoot full dress rehearsals, even though the dramatic lighting often makes things a lot more difficult. Stage lighting can and does
change rapidly, and actors moving from lit to unlit areas of the stage present you with a lot of unpredictable targets. If you attend early rehearsals though
you’ll know just where and when the actors will be, and you’ll be ready for the peak of the ‘action’ just as you might prepare to capture a racing car
clipping the apex.
Actors are accustomed to being watched and filmed but as a matter of respect I try not to intrude audibly, visually and especially not physically whilst they
are working. I use the electronic shutter where possible to avoid distraction, wear dark clothing and move around as quietly as possible, attempting to
stay out of sightlines. My metering is set to follow the focus point and because the actors are frequently lit against a dark background I’ll begin with -1
stop on exposure compensation and adjust as required. If necessary I’ll adjust ISO too, generally aiming to keep to ISO 400 or less, reluctantly creeping
up to ISO 3200 if necessary. On occasions where I’ve been granted permission to shoot backstage during the performance it was not unusual to have to
resort to ISO 12800 under some very challenging conditions.
The lighting backstage is very low, especially near the stage entry points where the audience might otherwise see the stage crew. This is why they (and
photographers!) dress all in black, frequently with matching gloves and Ninja masks! As mentioned earlier, I use mainly primes, the most popular being
the 35mm f1.4 and the 90mm f2.0, with the 56mm f1.2 not far behind. I could occasionally use a 200mm f2.0 but I work close-in for the most part so a
long lens isn’t a priority, particularly when I need to sell my car to buy one!
UPDATE : Sony and Adobe…
It’s now 2022, and after a hiatus in shooting due to covid I once again re-evaluated my requirements. My Fuji gear has mostly gone now, even though they
have just announced the XH-2. I do still have my original 18, 35 and 60mm lenses though, along with an XE-4 body for really light-weight work. My main
shooting kit is now based on two catchily named Sony ‘A7r4a’ bodies with 24mm f1.4, 50mm f1.2 and 135mm f1.8 Sony GM’s being the main lenses I take
out for a job. Filling in the ‘gaps’ are a very compact Zeiss 35 f2.8 Sonnar and the Sony 85mm f1.8, which I’ll bring along if I know they will be needed. The
Sony 50mm f1.2 GM is hands down the finest lens I have ever used, at any aperture. As for workflow, that has stayed pretty much the same, except for the
fact that I now use the Adobe subscription which I swore I never would. My old Lightroom 6.0 just fell too far behind the times.
