So I wrote a while ago about the techniques that I’ve drawn from the film industry that I try to apply to my work with LRP photography. I spied this on a friends feed today, it’s a making-of video of Game of Thrones Season 4. Well, the SFX anyway.
Keep a close eye as they drop the effects in place, and then apply a colour grading over the top to tie all the elements together.
http://vimeo.com/100095868
Yeah, I couldn’t narrow it down to just ten, so here are fifteen. I also couldn’t narrow it down to just Odyssey or Empire because I love them both in equal measures.
I’m quite happy at the amount of shots of awesome women vs awesome men that I seem to achieve. It’s been a goal since the outset to do so.
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I’m calling it a horse bag because horse pouch sounds… well…
A few months ago I blogged about the horse embroidery I’d been working on but I forgot to blog the finished piece.
Here it is! Having been through two muddy empires. I’m incapable of hand washing anything properly, so I guess it’s going to stay muddy until I take it to my mothers.
So there’s a really interesting scene in the second Hunger Games film where Katniss goes up in the tube into the area and the aspect ratio of the film changes. The first half of the film is shot on a lower quality (read: the usual type that they use for making movies) camera which gives the film a distinctive ‘Hollywood’ look. Hollywood films aren’t actually that high quality, believe it or now.
However as she rises into the arena they switch to true IMAX format which has not only a different aspect ratio but also a very visceral quality change. It subconsciously feels like all your senses are heightened as the film makes the switch to the much higher quality IMAX format and you also feel like you’re seeing more of the world as the format opens up out of letterbox to it’s 1.43:1 ratio.
The whole arena half of the movie is shot in this IMAX format, creating tension and drama. What’s this got to do with anything? Well, mostly I just like the Hunger Games (you might have guessed from my previous posts.)
The arena has a specific look to it. It’s warm because the film makers are telling you it’s in the rainforest. They want it to to look hot and muggy. The greens are vibrant but the shadows are dirty when you look at them. However look at an image from the districts:
Before the arena almost everything is cold. The districts are always cold. They have those greenish shadows and blue highlights. It is winter during this period in the film, but the districts are always cold and relentless.
These things aren’t a coincidence, you can generally assume that every aspect of a well made, big budget movie was not left to chance.
You can see the same things at play in the Grindhouse movies.
Tarrantino’s Death Proof is warm.
Whereas Rodriguez’s Planet Terror is very blue most of the way through (with a couple of exceptions). You’ll also notice that it’s grainy in the image. What I can’t show you here in images is that he also plays with things like the timing of the film, so he de-syncs the visuals and the audio and he makes the video jump around like an extremely poorly made and edited film. This film is not poorly made and edited.
So what am I getting at here.I guess what I’m getting at is that to me, LRP photography isn’t just about taking snaps of people pretending to be other people. I’ve briefly mentioned before that I’m interested in raising the game for LRP photography and I think that digital photography has an awful lot to answer for with respect to many of thing things I consider sins.
It’s all too easy just to snap away at events and not post-process the images because you’re convincing yourself that you’re being ‘true’ to the original scene, but this is a huge departure to what photographers have done in the past. If you look through the archives of agencies like Magnum Photos or at specific photojournalists like Tim Hetherington or Don McCullin you’ll see that they have a ‘look’ to their images. While much of the ‘look’ of a photographers work is determined by things such as lens choices, compositional devices and similar it’s also determined by the way that you grade your images.
In the past colour (or black and white) was dealt with by photojournalists before they picked up their cameras. Film selection is crucial to the look of the finished photograph – two black and white films can look vastly different even when shot by the same photographer, for example. You can also change things afterwards when you develop the film and print the photos, but overwhelmingly the look will be determined by the film that you choose to put in your camera.
Digital has made us lazy. We can choose how our images look after we have taken them. We don’t have to commit to a certain look before we take a picture. However as a result it seems that most photographers just make their images look ‘true to life’, which is great if you’re a commercial product photographer trying to accurately represent a set of towels for John Lewis, but a bit boring if you’re trying to capture the feeling of a place.
It’s also really interesting that last year I interviewed a photographer who was giving a lecture. I asked her how she sold images to a public who all owned digital cameras, she said that she gave them something that they didn’t know how to do. One of her biggest sales tactics was to produce work that is colour graded. She pointed out that most people who aren’t into photography won’t understand what you’ve done to the image, only that you’ve done something to it that they can’t do themselves. It’s the same when you consider Hollywood – my home videos don’t look anything like big budget production, or even low budget production. At least in part it’s because I don’t really know much about colour grading videos.
After I’d attended a couple of Empire and an Odyssey, I decided that actually my photographs didn’t show the world how I experienced it. My first photographs were pretty pristine and accurate. I mean that’s a good thing to be able to achieve, but they were boring. I’m going to illustrate this point with a photograph of Andy because he knows that I don’t think he’s boring (far from it), it’s just my picture here that is boring:
The photo is fine. There’s nothing wrong with it and it ticks lots of ‘good photo’ boxes. It has a nice out of focus background, it’s got pretty good composition, the subject is in focus and doing something interesting and the colour is good. But it’s boring.
So when I realised I was producing boring photographs I went away and thought about why I was missing the mark. And the fact is that Anvil isn’t this pristine, colourful place. Anvil to me is slightly dark and muddy in feeling (and in person, but lets not talk about the mud). It’s a bit oppressive too. This is a place of struggle where the hero’s of the empire are trudging out into far away lands to fight an oppressive enemy force. Lines from Wilfred Owen run through my head when I think about Anvil .
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Anvil doesn’t feel to me like it’s a nice place to be. It might technically be safe, but we’re getting on with the business of war fundamentally. My pictures didn’t convey that feeling, my pictures made it feel like we were all out on a Sunday jaunt to fuck up a few Orcs. I had to change something. My interest is in narrative and the human condition, if I’m not conveying that in my photographs then I’m not doing it right.
I’d also set out with a goal to shoot ‘something cinematic’ right back before the first event. All I understood about LRP was that it was a bit like a movie that would unfold around you, if you’re a bystander. Sounded great. But my pictures were also not ticking any of the cinematic boxes.
So I spent time developing a processing recipe that I felt accurately portrayed the way that I saw the world that I was photographing. The result was dusty blacks and a dark, green tinge to all the photographs. The dustiness of the blacks (i.e., they never really go black anywhere on the image) is like using old film after it’s expired. Something I felt appropriate to an archivist visiting this shanty town of canvas (and yes, I do see things through the eyes of my character, even if I barely play her. She’s a Highguard Archivist). I also made the decision to crop into a letterbox format with a ratio of 16:9 for all horizontal images (and I do mostly shoot horizontal images, because most monitors are horizontal).
The combination of colour grading and cropping make the above image look like this:
You might not like what I did, but to me it certainly feels more atmospheric and like it’s capturing the spirit of Empire.
Odyssey is different again. To me, Odyssey feels blue (yeah take the piss, I associate things with colours). And this was before I really understood that Odyssey took place on a risen Atlantis. Lets see what Odyssey looks like:
Odyssey often changes colour for me depending on the time of day too. In the evenings things often get more tense, and when that happens it sometimes becomes more blue – this is deliberate.
I’m not saying that this is the only way to shoot LRP. Everybody has their own way of doing things and their own personal preferences as to how they look images to look. There is no wrong or right way to do this at all and I’m not going to tell you what you should like best.
However I think that when it comes to raising the standards of LRP photography it would be good if every photographer considered how the event that they’re photographing feels and if that can (or indeed should) translate into the way that images look. I appreciate that perhaps I spend more time than others thinking about these kind of things because of the nature of my job and my studies (art history student) however it would be great to encourage others into thinking about what they do too.
I mean aside from anything else, I like to hope that this makes my images recognisable, that I’m building up a certain style to my work. In fact I fell in love with the recipes I created that I use them in my more normal work too, because I think they’re pretty cool. Like this one here from the Blenheim Triathlon.
So I don’t know really. We might not have the glorious settings of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia for our games, but we can sure take a good picture here in the UK of our LRP. It just takes, I believe, that little bit of extra effort and a little bit of going above and beyond what others may have to do when they have beautiful settings and great immersion handed to them on a plate.
Hope this article has been interesting to people who are curious about the thought process of this photographer. Nothing here was intended to cause offence, my apologies if it did.
Time and time again: ‘People never take photographs of me, how do I get in photographs at LRP?’ Obviously now I can only speak for myself, but here’s what you need to do to get into my photographs at Empire or Odyssey.
Obviously, you can’t really control this because you never know where I’ll be. It’s made considerably easier at Odyssey because I hang out in the arena most of the time. However out on the battlefield at Empire, when there are potentially 1000 or so players and monsters at each others throats, where will I be?
I’ll be where it looks cool. That means I’ll primarily be looking for shots that will firstly look great for PD’s marketing material and secondly I’ll be looking for shots that will make it into my portfolio. Over the course of six Empire events I’ve learnt who will consistently give me great shots. Highguard for example in their matching uniforms and shield walls never fail to look cool when they’re on the open field. Those neat lines? They’re just so satisfying to my OCD. On the other hand the scrappy Orcs always look awesome in the woodland.
Have great kit.Costume is a huge part of what makes me decide to take a picture. It doesn’t have to be the most ‘on brief’ kit in the world for your nation, but it does have to be of a reasonable standard. And a reasonable standard can be just a simple tunic and belt, as long as it’s worn well with no distractions. What do I mean by distractions? Well starting with the costume itself it has to be well made and have vision with the combinations you’re wearing. If you wear a bright pink tunic with neon green trousers, I’m most likely going to pass over you.
Badly made costume can also be a real problem. If your seam has come undone between events, then just fix it. An unravelled seam still retaining it’s pristinely ironed crease is just… ugly. It doesn’t even matter if you fix it badly – do you reckon that all medieval warriors knew how to sew? Or do you think they just fixed their kit to the best of their ability so that it didn’t get any worse while they were out fighting?
On the other hand, brand new and pristine costume doesn’t look great. We know that you love your brand new costume that you spent hours making or that you commissioned from an awesome costumer. You know what you need to do before your first event? Wear it. Wear it round the house as often as you can. Take it to the woods and run around for a few hours rubbing it on trees and falling over and then wash it several times. In fact, chuck tunics and other basics in every wash you do between now and your first event with it. Fight in it, practice with the rest of your group. Make it look lived in and not like you took it out the packet that morning. In fact, if you do take it out the packet that morning, at least iron the packing creases out of it. (Of course, disregard this paragraph if you have the kind of character who throws their clothes away after wearing them just once.)
Other bugbears include bits of costume that just aren’t in keeping with the setting. That includes belt pouches with coke cans in, water bottles that are plastic, and – I’m sorry – glasses. I mean that’s not true, I do photograph people who are wearing glasses. But man, I really hate the way that glasses look in pictures. Sometimes it can look cool, there’s a lady who wears lenses tinted really dark grey and she has a black and white costume and they look pretty cool. But everyday reading glasses really don’t do it for me. Before you moan about this point – I wear glasses too. I know it’s not very pleasant to put your fingers in your eyes and put contact lenses in but actually it’s not that bad when you get used to it. In fact I recently discovered five day extended wear contacts, so you can put them in on the first day of an event and not have to take them out until you get home. Wonderful stuff. Or reenactment glasses, they’re cool too. Expensive, but hardly as expensive as the custom armour you most likely bought. As aways, we’re talking about being aspirational here.
Edited to add: You know what my main problem with glasses in photographs is? They reflect light. And that means that actually, many, many shots with glasses in get chucked on the cutting room floor, even if they’re the best shot in the world otherwise with the most fabulous kit and the most emotive roleplayers. They’re just not things that are very compatible with taking photographs – or possibly that just applies to photographers with my level of skill.
Roleplay.Ok, here’s the biggie. You might be wondering what I’m doing talking about roleplaying in a post about LRP. I mean, people don’t actually go to LRP to roleplay, do they? Certainly it feels that way on the field sometimes.
What all the pictures so far in this post have in common is that I photographed people roleplaying. From the minotaur surveying his territory to the Highguard soldier watching a ritual being prevented to the two medics nervously watching their families fight. They’re all roleplaying.
And if they’re roleplaying, then they’re not posing.
I’m not at Empire or Odyssey to shoot posed portraits or carefully crafted scenes. Well I am, but I do that before time in or while in the OC field. During time in for me it’s strictly documentary and we have written rules at PD to enforce this policy across all crew photographers.
There’s a really good reason for this. I was always taught that if something is worth doing then it’s worth doing properly. If I’m going to shoot staged shots of LRP then I want to take the time and effort to crack out all the gear I need to make the image in my head, and I want to direct the models in the shot to exactly how I want them to look. The same result will not be achieved by you striking what you think is an awesome pose, when actually it probably looks a bit rubbish.
No really. Don’t.
When you pose, you do three things. You look silly, you break the immersion of the people around you and you break my immersion.
Ok so you probably understand you look a bit silly posing in the middle of a battlefield and you probably even get that you’re breaking the immersion of people around you (why would you do that to your fellow players? It’s as bad as swigging from a Strongbow can in the end stands of Odyssey… oh wait…) but you’re probably wondering how you break my immersion.
Photographers don’t have immersion at LRP, right? They have hulking white lenses, massive black digital cameras that light up, and ugly modern harnesses to carry their gear about, right? Wrong.
I get into the zone, as it were. For the period that I’m photographing during time in, I’m also living the game with you. I might not be playing the game (although actually, some of my friends now roleplay with me as if I was my character and just ignore the fact I have cameras) but I’m there in the story with you. I feel the highs and the lows and I feel the pain when well loved characters die (Jude – damn you, I nearly cried).
When I’m in the headspace I take photographs that I love. Look at the shot above – the heady mix of ceremony, the dusk, the acrid smoke and the bubbling noise of the rest of the camp – I like to think that I got all that across in the shot I took. You know what would have ruined my headspace and caused me to get out of my little photographer zone? The dude in the horns looking over at me and pulling a dramatic pose. I mean not only would it have looked shit, but it would have ruined my own immersion into the ritual and it would have knocked me off my stride.
On top of that, if you pose for me then I walk away. And I ask other photographers to do this same. It’s not a rule, but I’d like to try and culture this behaviour or ‘posing and expecting a photo to be taken’ out of Empire. It happens less to me now than it did at the start of Empire. And to be fair, occasionally I have to give kudos to some players who very creatively tell me that they want me to take their picture. In particularly the Orcs at I think the last event of 2013 made some comment about how convenient it was that they had their new kit on when reporters were about. Loud enough for me to hear but not too loud for other players to hear. Letting me know that you don’t mind me invading your roleplaying space while staying in character is ok, but if I choose not to accept the invitation just don’t get pissed or feel it’s anything personal. I probably noticed something that you didn’t, where my presence would actually be breaking someone else’s immersion. Or the shot just wouldn’t have looked good – and not taking the shot in the first place means that I have less post-processing to do afterwards and you can see the pictures that little bit quicker after an event.
In summary:
You can totally book me for a shoot. Here in Banbury. Cause I’m nice like that. 😉
When I saw this link on Facebook today featuring Amanda Palmers rather fabulous little ditty to the Daily Mail I had to help it on it’s way to becoming viral. I (like many other people) am fed up of people writing about shaming women’s bodies without a mention of their achievements. But Amanda Palmer fought back. Respect. I think I agree with every single one of her words.
But then I started to investigate her. First I decided that I really rather liked her music. No surprise, I used to like the Dresden Dolls but I hadn’t put two and two together.
And then I stumbled on this TED talk. Just watch.
This woman is fearless. And brave. But mostly fearless.
I tried an experiment a while ago in a blog post on here. I asked for money from those who enjoy my work to cover my petrol expenses and stuff. You see I go to Empire for fun, to enjoy photographing the spectacle. I don’t charge to go there and take pictures, but I do go to try and make peoples experiences a little better. Because that’s what being an artist or a musician is all about, right? It’s about making peoples lives better by doing what you love.
Some friends were sceptical. They didn’t think anything would come of it and in all honesty, I think that they thought I was slightly nuts for asking.
But you know what? From that blog post I was given my petrol money for the next event by a couple of people. I was touched, actually I think I cried a couple of times when a few little Paypal payments dropped into my account. (Thanks guys, I try to cultivate an image of being tough…).
I’ve been doing this donation thing for a long time in a few guises. I photographed my first wedding for a couple of friends of my mums many years ago, asking them to just give me what they thought the pictures were worth. I was pleasantly surprised by the cheque I got after I sent them what I’d shot.
And moments like this remind me that there is still some humanity left in the world. People reaching out to others because they care. It’s important that we do this, that we reach out to others. It’s how we remember how very human we are. And fragile. But sometimes fearless.
Since I shot at the first Empire event I’ve been considering putting a book together containing my photography from the year of events. I’d toyed with putting it on kickstarter and trying to raise funds for an exhibition as well. I still wasn’t sure about doing it to be honest, because I’m just not sure that it would get the support.
But you know what, maybe this is the way forward for the arts. Amanda Palmer raised over a million dollars for her new music release on kickstarter. And yes, I’m going to shamelessly steal her placard idea, although I also saw Matt Smith do it the other day for a Doctor Who thang, so perhaps that makes me just a trendy hipster.
I’ve always wanted to make a book full of my work. I’d love for people to have it on their bookcase, where they look back at it every now and again and remember all the awesome times they had. Because that’s what photography is about, it’s about telling stories and capturing moments. But mostly it’s about telling stories. And in the context of LRP it’s about prompting others to tell stories.
I love taking pictures. I don’t really want to have to force people to pay for my work. I love sending it out into the world to try and make people happy. But I’m terrible at asking for money. I even hate sending out 30, 60 and even 90 day reminders to clients who aren’t paying me. I guess we all just have to be a little bit better at asking.