Tonality, Exposure and Skin Tone

This is a friend of mine, Basil Charles, who owns the famous Basil's Bar in Mustique.  I photographed him on several occasions, and he is a particularly difficult subject because of his very dark skin tone.  Patrick Lichfield said Basil "sucked up the light."  So, how do you photograph someone and still show tonal quality in the photograph?   The other difficulty here is that he is wearing a white outfit.  The key to this was to have him face the source of light so the visage of his face was evenly lit and the side of his face was in shadow, giving a dimensional quality to the image.  The effect worked on the white clothing, as well.  So instead of being completely blown out, you see subtle texture.  I also positioned his head so it was framed by a lighter background.  

"A Photographer Fit for a Queen"

Twenty-one years ago this month, I had the wonderful opportunity of photographing the Royal family on their trip to the United States.  I photographed the Queen and her husband, and then-President George Bush and his wife in the library of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.

I remember being quite nervous, which was compounded by Prince Philip replying "no" to all of my posing suggestions.  I then also asked the Queen if she would like to put her handbag down, and she also said "no."  The Bushes were quite amused by the exchange, but I wished that the ground would open and swallow me up! 

I then said to the Queen, "I am so glad to see that your dress is nicely pressed, because I had a dream a few nights ago that I had to iron it."

They all seemed highly amused by this, and here is the resulting portrait: 

Edward Villella, Miami City Ballet

Edward Villela is arguably the most celebrated male American dancer.

My first session with him was when the company visited the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in 1995, when they performed George Balanchine’s Jewels.

I photographed him alone and with several individual members of the corps.

I ran into him again that same year when I photographed him backstage at Wolftrap when the Miami City Ballet performed in honor of Kay Shouse’s birthday.

In January of 1996, I was in Washington, DC, and got a call from Victoria Vigorito, the Miami City Ballet's public relations person, who told me that the Miami City Ballet had a photo shoot scheduled for later that week in Miami and that their photographer had become indisposed!  Florida in January!  Photographing the Miami City Ballet! I made my schedule work.

They were fabulous to work with, there was such energy in the company, and they really admired Eddie.

In 1997, I went to the White House with Eddie and his family and photographed him receiving the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton. This was the same year he was named as a Kennedy Center honoree.

In 1998, I did a profile portrait of him for the cover of his reissued book The Prodigal Son.  His wife, Linda, said the resulting portrait (above) had the map of Italy written all over his face.

He was always gracious and he took my daughter backstage at the Naples Philharmonic when the Miami City Ballet performed The Nutcracker.

I photographed him in Miami with his wife Linda several times, and this latest session was taken at the Kravitz Center in Palm Beach, Florida on March 10^th, 2012, when the company was performing Giselle.

George Stevens Jr

I photographed George Stevens in his office at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the week before the Kennedy Center Honors.
His assistant Dottie showed me his collection of photographs and posters and I decided that was the backdrop for the cover of the Georgetowner Magazine even though I initially wanted to do it in the foyer of the Kennedy Center. There were some amazing photographs on display. His whole life was portrayed in that room. Elizabeth Taylor aged 21. Jimmy Dean, Warren Beatty and Clark Gable plus numerous other icons.
What I liked best was the poster for the play Thurgood, starring Laurence Fishburn, with a sticker saying "sold out" I had seen this production at the Kennedy Center.  George was very easy to work with and the most difficult part of the session was controlling all of the reflective surfaces in the room.

The Georgetowner picked the photographs below but I really like the black and white of George.

Placido Domingo in Pagliacci

Placido Domingo as Canio in Pagliacci

This portrait was made backstage at the John F. Kennedy Center during the dress rehearsal of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. I had photographed Plácido Domingo in several roles prior to this session but he was so quiet and subdued on this occasion that I thought perhaps I had offended him. It was not until I photographed him in the next costume that I realized that he was totally consumed in the role he was playing.  This photograph was selected as the DVD cover for the Washington National Opera's upcoming release of Volume Four of Plácido's "My Greatest Roles." 

Plácido was accompanied by Verónica Villarroel as Nedda, Gregory Yurisich as Tonio, Manuel Lanza as Silvio, and David Cangelosi as Beppe.  The performance's opera orchestra and chorus were conducted by Leonard Slotkin; the Director and Scene Designer  was Franco Zeffirelli.

An enlargement of this image was also printed sixty by sixty inches to hang in the lobby of the Washington National Opera's headquarters.

Springtime and Mother's Day Portraits

This last week I had the pleasure of photographing Channel 9's Angie Goff for the cover of the Georgetowner.  

It was a beautiful day outside, Spring in full bloom, and I took the opportunity to capture Angie and her daughter, Adora Kate, surrounded by the colors of the season.    

This second portrait was a chance to show the happy nature of both mother and daughter, focusing on their beautiful smiles.  

Angie has a fantastic blog you can follow, called Oh My Goff.  You can also catch her weekday mornings on on the local CBS affiliate, WUSA (Channel 9).

It's not too late to get your own Springtime or Mother's Day portraits! Contact the studio at 703-827-5957, or at katherine at philipbermingham dot com, to discuss a session, or purchase a gift certificate.   

Cover-ing the Georgetowner

This photograph was for the Georgetowner's "Green Issue."  They were looking to showcase Steve Ma, the "Green" Executive Officer (GEO) of Live Green, a company dedicated to the idea of affordable and eco-friendly living in DC.  The portrait session took place at Café Green in the DuPont Circle area.  The location was perfect, with its rich and vibrant decor, bright colors, and friendly staff. We had lunch ahead of time to plan the session out ,(the Raw Trio on the menu was exceptional) however, when we met Steve later that day, our original plans went out the window.  And this, one of the last shots, was clearly the most dramatic and best choice for the cover.  I've never seen so much green since we were in Ireland, but it really worked!  Steve was lit by a key light 45º to the right, and a fill light behind the camera.  There was also a small hair light coming in from the top right and behind, separating him from the background.  The camera used was a Canon 1Ds Mark III, 24-105 lens (75 mm), at 100 ISO, 1/125th @ f8.