P#11: Setting the Tempo of an Edwardian Fashion Shot

Setting The Tempo

Bruce Smith: If you've ever been to see a live orchestra in a classical concert, watch the conductor. The conductor is actually controlling the emotion, the tempo, and the energy that is being expressed with the musical instruments.

As a photographer, you're very, very similar to a conductor. Your subject or your model is your orchestra. Your viewer of the pictures is the audience that's listening.

What you put into the picture as a photographer, a conductor puts into an orchestra. It's the same thing.

Audri: I love the analogy.

Bruce: If I want dolce and sweet, I will express myself dolce and sweet, and nice and soft. My subject will pick up on this and express themselves in that sort of manner. If I want a very, very high energy -- crazy and wild, and mad -- I will conduct myself in a direct crazy, wild, and mad manner.

A piece of music can have many, many different levels of tempo in it. In the same way, an image can have many different levels of energy and emotion and feeling.

This is a shot that I took for quite a bridal wear designer from the UK. She wanted this fairytale, Edwardian fashion, eccentric lady to wear her dresses. This is the philosophy that she wanted. (click the image for a larger version)

We created that air of grace that you see about her -- elegance and a sort of Edwardian fashion style.

We read Charles Dickens and we imagined the type of people in the stores. It was about being familiar with different characters and being able to express yourself the way an actor would. The model is the actor, and I was the conductor.

In Closing

Shooting photos isn't just about poses and smiles - it's about getting into character. It's about the different moods, the different emotions. Bruce Smith explained it perfectly and this image of Edwardian fashion is the perfect example of how stunning a photograph can be when the right "conductor" is taking it.