Andreas BergmannSeptember - December 2012

Andreas Bergmann // Newsletter for September - December 2012Introduction

In this edition of the newsletter

1 - December reflections // The best year ever2 - Case // A dramatic face3 - Recommendations // People you should know4 - Case // The band that wasn’t5 - Tips // Better stage photography6 - Case // The rolling room

About the cover photo, and the one on this page

The photo on the cover is from the marketing for the stage-production BiFald, you can read more about it in section 4 of the newsletter.

The photo above is a BTS shot from the production of the video teaser for the play “Hele Vejen Hjem”

Creds and contact

The layout of the newsletter was done by the fantastically awesome graphics designer and illustrator Leh Poulsen, you can dig her stuff at lehpoulsen.dk

All the content, images and words, were made by me, Andreas Bergmann. You can check out my portfolio and more at andreasbergmann.dk

The best year everDecember reflections

Less gear, more know-how

This year I finally defeated one of the notorious diseases that photographers suffer from; gadgetitis. Not that I’ve stopped dreaming about new lenses and thingamajigs, but I’ve realized how vastly more important it is to become a better photographer, than it is being a better equipped one. Me and my D700 still have lots of shots in us, and once it eventually dies I’ll miss that dear old thing, possibly weep.

Almost 70’000 shots in one year

Which equals roughly 190 shots per day, or 7 shots per hour. It sounds completely ridiculous, it that is exactly what it is! I’ve never had this many shoots, this many jobs, fulfilled this many photo-fantasies, burned out this many flash-tubes or met this many inspiring, hilarious, exciting and all-round awesome people.

The best people in the world

On top of all the me-stuff, my network of wonderful partners-in-crime and friends have grown a lot. From the illustrater-hero-extraordinaire Leh, who is currently designing my left forearm, and the make-up artist and stylist Josephine who is basically a dream on any set, to the producer Sasia who has become an integral part of my to date largest personal photography undertaking. I can’t wait to do tons of cool projects with all of you.

a dramatic faceCase

When the production of “Mallorca” at Bådteateret had some changes in the cast close to the premiere, they got a hold of me to do a portrait series of the actors for the program, press material and such.

Since the visual language both on stage, and in the rest of the press material, was very colourful, energetic and rag-tag, we decided to aim for quietly intense and dramatic portraits.

I decided to use big lights very close up to their face from the side. I wanted to combine a soft overall light, with the textures you get from side-lighting. On top of the the high relative distance between facial features, compared to the distance to the light, makes for a wonderfully three-dimensional look.

To create an intense facial expression without it being over-the-top or energetic, I had the actors tilt their head a bit forward, and look up directly into the camera, while relaxing their facial muscles.

The end result that you can see to the right is subdued, dramatic and intense portrait, that remains flattering and calm.

facebook.com/mvhmallorca

People you really should knowRecommendations

The light designer

I’ve had the pleasure of watching Kasper Daugberg design the light for a bunch of plays. Latest on Hele Vejen Hjem, where he basically made me smack the floor around with my jaw with his ability to create emotion, mood and atmosphere with light, and his dedication to backing up the story of the play. On top of that he is an awesome dude to work with, and he is always both friendly and professional.facebook.com/kasper.daugberg

The MAKE-UP and hair artist

On a complete fluke I ended up having Josephine Budanur on a very make-up demanding shoot. After working with her for half an hour she had claimed a solid spot on my list of people I love to work with. She is incredibly talented (look above, and on the cover), very easy-going and pleasant for everyone on the set. On top of that she is humble and not at all a flaky diva. facebook.com/josephine.budanur

The Producer

Sasia Mølgaard has, besides rapidly becoming a dear friend, become one of the people I have so much confidence in, that she is now my equal partner and producer for my first big, serious and personal art project. She sees problems before they arise, solve them when they do, can kick ass, chew bubblegum, work till 5am and still make coffee with a smile when everyone is stressed out.sasia.moelgaard@gmail.com

the band that wasn’tCase

The producer on the play BiFald, a play about a rock band, its members and their personal and professional problems, Monika Mazurek, contacted me with what has to be one of my favourite jobs this year. We were to create the marketing material for the band the play is about, as opposed to the play itself. They wanted to create fan-posters, news articles, scandal-headlines and much more for the band, instead of doing ordinary press material.

In cooperation with the production staff, my make-up and hair ninja Josephine and the always useful posing ninja Robyn, we set up lights with the sole purpose of making everyone look glamorously delicious. They were styled from top to toe, engaged in character work in front of the camera and were given a helping hand by Robyn to get the poses juuuust right.

The post production was more than twice as time-intensive as the shoot itself, and we didn’t cut any corners or spare neither Photoshop nor Lightroom, in order to get as much glamour and style into the images as possible. The images are now under the loving care of Leh Poulsen, the graphics designer for the production

Look out for more info come January.

Better stage photographytips

Be loyal to the stage art

Throw all your rules about “correct” photography out the window, and start out with a goal of passing on to your audience what you experience. If it is a dark stage, make dark shots instead of compensating wildly. If there is movement then pan and use a slow shutter speed, and if the light is warm, don’t adjust the white balance to make it neutral. Try giving your audience a look into what it was like, not what it would be like in a studio setting.

Set your camera to Manual

Your in-camera light meter doesn’t stand a chance against most stage-light. It is filled with hard contrasts, black backgrounds and small dots of intense light. Set your camera to manual, decide on a shutter speed and use aperture and iso to control the look of the image. After a bit of practice you’ll feel confident in this workflow, and your stage-images will look like you imagined they would, and not like black squares or messes of over exposed soup.

Get out your wide-angle lenses

The easiest way of doing stage photography is from the back with a 70-200 f/2.8 VRII, and some times it is your only option. But do your best to get down in front where you can pull out a wide-angle and make the viewer of the images feel like they’re right there. It adds perspective, drama and depth. Tele lenses are wonderful, but try getting right up in there and zoom out, I promise you’ll be delightfully surprised.

The rolling roomCase

The completely, utterly, wonderfully crazy people from CoreAct; Anika Barkan and Helene Kvint, gave me the pleasure of hiring me to document another one of their amazing exploits.

This time around they’ve built a... well... a rolling room, and for December they have filled it with Christmas. They’ve been going from retirement home to retirement home in December, spreading holiday joy to the max.. With a knitting reindeer, cookie-baking, coffee cooking and anything and everything Christmas, In the new year they’ll keep on going around with the rolling room, but I have no idea what exploits shall happen there this time around.

My side of the story mainly revolved around picking a 50mm lens and a wide-angle zoom to give a natural feel to the images, and then looking for moments to savour.

You can read more about CoreAct at their website: coreact.dk