This blog post has nothing to do with Shakespeare, but now that I have your attention…
I volunteered to be featured as a raffle prize during the Cabaret Identitease show. To clarify, I was offering a photoshoot experience, not presenting myself as the prize. If the latter were accurate, it would deter ticket sales entirely.
Toby, the winner, reached out to me towards the latter part of August, and we coordinated a suitable meeting time. I had a strong inclination to revisit the North bank of the Thames and conduct a photoshoot on the beach. On this occasion, I intended to utilize my recently procured Sony α7R IV - a formidable 60-megapixel sensor camera. Despite having been utilized only once before and featured in a prior event, I was eager to harness its remarkable resolution capabilities for this particular shoot.
This particular photoshoot encountered a couple of unexpected hurdles. Firstly, and quite unusually after a decade, I found myself running late. In all fairness, Toby was also slightly behind schedule, although that wasn't the primary concern. Toby had thoughtfully given me a heads-up about their revised arrival time, and my estimate wasn't too far off either.
However, as luck would have it, the moment I stepped outside, a thunderstorm that had stealthily advanced from behind (hidden from my view through the window) erupted right above. In a moment of realization, I smirked, armed with an umbrella this time, ready to challenge the persistent whims of the weather.
Leaving Cannon Street station behind, I met up with Toby, and our discussion delved into our past experiences with Cabaret shows and different venues. As we dodged traffic and arrived at the beach, I couldn't help but notice that this small environment had transformed once more. New barriers had been put in place, and despite the tide being close to ebbing, it was clear that the area had shrunk, leaving less room to manoeuvre. There was enough space for the shots I wanted so we set to work.
To start off, I chose the classic 'sitting on the stairs' shot. This option requires minimal effort from the subject, making it convenient, especially if they've covered some distance on foot and could use a brief respite.
Afterwards, Toby got back on his feet, and we moved to the next spot, positioned between a weathered barge and a concrete wall. Toby leaned against the rusty barge, creating an interesting composition. Personally, these two shots stand out as my favourites from the entire session as well.
In this image, you can observe the newly installed barriers. Interestingly, these barriers didn't deter some of the tourist boats from powering up the Thames, generating a substantial wake that surged forcefully over the barriers. Briefly, I entertained reservations about the location, but fortunately, the wake didn't reach our position.
With the sun shining intensely during the shoot, I suggested to Toby that they take a moment to sit on the beach while I captured shots from a couple of different angles. One set of shots framed the South bank of the Thames and the iconic Shard, while the other perspective encompassed the wall behind Toby. Curiously, it appeared that one of the street lamps was enthusiastic to begin its duties, as it was already powered on.
Subsequently, the atmosphere took a playful turn. Toby switched into an outfit with a rather subtle flair, eliciting glances and waves from passengers on the tour boats passing by. I experimented with a Dutch Angle shot, which I believe turned out quite effectively. In the second shot, Toby tilted their shades forward while beginning to open the robe. Regrettably, for the onlookers aboard the boat, this unexpected scene wasn't included in their tour package.
The playfulness continued with more lighthearted moments, followed by a stroll back to the stairs. Toby underwent a third wardrobe change for a fantastic shot, where they appeared dwarfed by the towering building. I don't often combine individuals with architecture in this manner, but the convergence of multiple perspective lines in this image captured my attention, and I couldn't pass up the chance to seize the opportunity.
Here's another shot that I hadn't experimented with previously. After ascending the stairs from the beach and proceeding through an alleyway, I came across an open arch that caught my eye. I requested Toby to rest their arms on it as I captured the shot. A tour boat was also racing by, adding a layer of interest in the middle ground and also fell within Toby's line of sight.
With the shoot coming to a close we found ourselves in an alleyway surrounded by metal bars, They were either to keep us in or something worse out but they created great shadows along the floor and up the walls. I have to give credit to Toby for the idea for him to sit against the wall for this shot. The alleyway had many people walking and running through it so we had to wait a while to get this shot. Soon after this shot was taken someone walked around the corner so we ended the shoot there.
We walked back up to Cannon Street station and had a quick coffee, Toby had the chance to see the shots for the first time on the back of the camera. It was good to relax for a bit and decompress. That beach can be slippery at times and the area under the bridge doesn’t get hammered by the Thames so much so the stone and discarded bricks are more jagged, which makes walking around more troublesome.
For the techies who are wondering, there were over 300 shots, totalling about 23 GIG of raw files. Rawsie managed to take out 12 GIG in total. These were quickly thrown into Capture One and were delivered to Toby by Dropbox a couple of hours after the shoot.
Overall the shoot was quick, the talent was excellent and the images came out great!
Please take a look at https://www.instagram.com/cabaretidentitease/ for the upcoming shows!