On Saturday I met with Andy Green, my chosen photographer, to photograph him for my assignment. I was invited to see his studio in Middlesbrough where he works and lives.
We also discussed his passion for materials, and how he uses them to build scenes, textures and atmospheres within his work. He showed me some of his favourite materials to work with, his current preference leaning towards translucent netting and metallic, silk sheets.
He then showed me some of the equipment he currently uses, including his Canon, camera and his usual lighting set up. Throughout my time at Andy’s studio his passion for lighting became very apparent, and it’s something he’s got down to an art form.
He tends to use a lot of coloured gels to create mood within his images, oftering layering different colours to create the desired effect as shown below. Green currently likes to work with a honeycomb filter on his lights, to create a fine, but diffused beam of light. When asked if he likes to use reflectors, he told me he uses the walls and windows in his studio as a “natural reflector”, and tends to use daylight as a light source as well as his studio lighting.
After discussing these things we created a winter scene using fabrics and props, and he gave me tips for doing so. He gave me a demo of how the different lighting techniques affect the atmosphere of an image. One thing I found interesting was that he put up a piece of netting, and shot images through it, to create a hazy, snow scene.
He tends to use a lot of coloured gels to create mood within his images, oftering layering different colours to create the desired effect as shown below. Green currently likes to work with a honeycomb filter on his lights, to create a fine, but diffused beam of light. When asked if he likes to use reflectors, he told me he uses the walls and windows in his studio as a “natural reflector”, and tends to use daylight as a light source as well as his studio lighting.
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| The scene we created |
I then proceeded to do my photoshoot of him for my project, which you can read more about HERE.
After the photoshoot Andy chatted to me about his work and career as a photographer, where I learned that he has had no formal training and has self taught himself techniques such as lighting.
He went through his back catalogue of work, picking out particular images he is fond of and telling me about the production of such. He was particularly proud of 'Out of Reach', shown below.
Out of Reach was taken on the window ledge of Green's previous studio. He told me that he had noticed the sun casting beautiful light upon the ledge, during sunset. He decided to study the sunset and lighting for the next few days and once determining it's pattern he asked his model to pose on the ledge as he took the shot. He told me of how she was quite daring, and that she climbed up the ladder to the ledge and had nothing but the ground to break her fall!
I am amazed at how Andy used natural lighting to create such a stunning image. He tells me that it was simply serendipity that the colours of the lighting matched the green in her dress (and flowers on the window) and the orange of her hair.
Green also talked about the fact he uses minimal editing. For instance, Out of Reach was barely edited. He talked about wanting to create the desired effects non-digitally such as in the images 'Dark Reflections' and 'Broken Dreams' (shown below).
Andy mentioned there was no digital techniques involved with creating these images and that the he simply laid broke pieces of mirror on the floor and positioned his model into the create position. He mentioned people often mistake his techniques for digital when they aren't.
As I want to use mirrors in my own work I asked him for advice with techniques however after explaining what I wanted to achieve he told me it would be near enough impossible to do.
With that in mind I began considering alternative ways to create my effect and suggested printing out the images of Ros and putting them behind pieces of glass to fake the illusion of it being a mirror. Andy approved.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Andy and looking at his working environment. His passion for photography was abundantly clear and really inspired me to be more considered and creative within my own work. He will be sending me his interview answers later this week, which I look forward to reading.
After the photoshoot Andy chatted to me about his work and career as a photographer, where I learned that he has had no formal training and has self taught himself techniques such as lighting.
He went through his back catalogue of work, picking out particular images he is fond of and telling me about the production of such. He was particularly proud of 'Out of Reach', shown below.
Out of Reach was taken on the window ledge of Green's previous studio. He told me that he had noticed the sun casting beautiful light upon the ledge, during sunset. He decided to study the sunset and lighting for the next few days and once determining it's pattern he asked his model to pose on the ledge as he took the shot. He told me of how she was quite daring, and that she climbed up the ladder to the ledge and had nothing but the ground to break her fall!
I am amazed at how Andy used natural lighting to create such a stunning image. He tells me that it was simply serendipity that the colours of the lighting matched the green in her dress (and flowers on the window) and the orange of her hair.
Green also talked about the fact he uses minimal editing. For instance, Out of Reach was barely edited. He talked about wanting to create the desired effects non-digitally such as in the images 'Dark Reflections' and 'Broken Dreams' (shown below).
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| Dark Reflections |
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| Broken Dreams |
As I want to use mirrors in my own work I asked him for advice with techniques however after explaining what I wanted to achieve he told me it would be near enough impossible to do.
With that in mind I began considering alternative ways to create my effect and suggested printing out the images of Ros and putting them behind pieces of glass to fake the illusion of it being a mirror. Andy approved.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Andy and looking at his working environment. His passion for photography was abundantly clear and really inspired me to be more considered and creative within my own work. He will be sending me his interview answers later this week, which I look forward to reading.
Cecil Beaton
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