The Importance of Being Earnest

hjorthmedh-earnest-grass — Wish we had recorded Natasha and Jessie as they were cracking jokes to get the cast to laugh. They helped lift the shoot and were a great help with composition, etc.

Natasha Cutler, who I had met when photographing Saturnalia, contacted me asking if I could help with some promotional photos for the play The Importance of Being Earnest that she was directing. After taking a good look at our calendars we agreed to meet up yesterday after work. The weather reports were somewhat encouraging in that they said it would not pour down until late in the evening. This is almost as good as it gets here in the UK. We ended up getting caught in a light rain while photographing on the lawns of St John’s College. The good news was that the cloudy sky gave us a very soft light, perfect for portrait photography.

hjorthmedh-earnest-rox-lauren — R.M. and Lauren Brown. Not much photoshopping in this one, the light was just amazing. I did sharpen the eyes just a little using the sharpening tool (very subtly). A while back I was doing a lot of brightening of the eyes, but lately I have not made the effort. The sharpening tool was a quick way to get similar results

hjorthmedh-earnest-behind-the-scenes — A quick behind the scenes shot on the bridge. The focusing distance was about 3 meters, and the aperture f/5.6 which gives a depth of field of about 1.3 meters (2.5 to 3.8 meters). I should probably have used a smaller aperture to get a bit more depth of field.

hjorthmedh-earnest-finn-shikha — Finn Brown and Shikha Pahari. I exposed for their faces which meant that the sky in the window was completely overexposed.

hjorthmedh-earnest-rox-lauren-kiss — We positioned us next to a window to make sure we got good light on their faces. You can get quite dramatic shots when the background is away from the window and thus quite dark.

A few behind the scenes shots also…

hjorthmedh-earnest-crazy — Mandatory crazy shot… Theatre people know how to do it right.

hjorthmedh-earnest-lauren — The lighting was pretty amazing, so I just had to snap this shot as we were getting ready to leave.

hjorthmedh-earnest-natasha — Natasha behind bars.

hjorthmedh-earnest-natasha-finn — It is not easy saying good bye!

This was just a quick photo shoot as I was going to the PdOC restaurant evening at seven, but we did manage to squeeze in several fun shots. The Importance of Being Earnest will be played in Peterhouse’s Deer Park, 19-21 June. In case anyone is reading this in 2015 or later, hello future, unfortunately you just missed the show.

Until next time.

– Johannes

Cast
Algernon – Finn Brewer
Gwendolen – Lauren Brown
Cecily – Shikha Pahari
Lady Bracknell – Yasmin Freeman
Miss Prism – Robert Eyers
Jack – R.M.
Rev Canon Chasuble – Daniel Stanyon
Lane/Merriman – Patrick Brooks

Production Team
Director – Natasha Cutler
Producer – Jossie Evans
Assistant Producer – Fay Davies
Publicist – Ruby Stewart-Liberty
Stage Manager – Lewis Scott
Costume Designer – Matilda Ettedgui
Choreographer – Jodie Coates
Assistant Director – Jossie Evans
Photographer – Johannes Hjorth
Costume Designer – Ellie Beveridge
Hair & Make-Up – Emily Ranken
Supreme Tag Line Writer – Lauren Brown
Publicity Designer – Rory Luscombe
Assistant Stage Manager – Jodie Coates

The Importance of Being Earnest

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