Bafflesmash

This evening I shot a few promotional photos for Bafflesmash. After accidentally going to Peterhouse instead of Pembroke I found my way to the old Pembroke Library located next to the college’s main entrance. It was an old room with wooden panels and really old books behind glass. The room had large windows but it was getting late so I was glad and a bit surprised at how well the discretely placed lamps illuminated the big room. The actors got changed into Victorian styled clothes, and we positioned ourselves close to some windows to get a bit of extra light. I had to increase the ISO and shutter time, and I also opened up the aperture a bit more than I would like to have. A bigger aperture meant I might not get everyone in focus (since the depth of field is decreased), a longer shutter time meant I could get motion blur. Since we were going for the old vintage look, I was not too worried about imperfections.

In order on the cover photo the actors were Robert Oldham, Jamie Armitage, Natasha Cutler, Orlando Gibbs and Tom Fairburn. What I like about theatre people is that they are usually pretty awesome at improvisation and coming up with new poses and expressions. I just kept asking them to change expressions, and got treated to a series of faces, one after another. It was like a big tasty smörgåsbord that I could pick and choose from when I got home to edit the photos. My favourites were the “crazy” photos that we did towards the end. Of course, by normal standards, all photos were pretty crazy. However, we do not measure crazy using conventional measuring rods on this blog.

hjorthmedh-bafflesmash-group-photo-vertical
We had to move a bit of the furniture around to get a clean shot. Here I have made the photo black and white, then added a bit of split toning making the highlights yellow, and the blacks a bit brownish. I also added a bit of negative vingeting to brighten the corners. On top of that is a paper-texture from Adobe. If I should do anything else, then the next thing would be to add a bit more noise and scratches. However, at this point I was pretty happy with the result. Jamie Armitage, Tom Fairbairn, Natasha Cutler, Orlando Gibbs and Rob Oldham
Natasha Cutler cuddling a pineapple
Natasha and her baby, a pineapple. I am not really sure what is going on here but I do like the crazy creativity at play.
The cast sitting by a piano
Another group shot. We tested a few different positions. Here we had talked about replacing the heads with pineapples. I actually did a version where I did so, but I felt the image lost from not having their facial expressions in it. From the left you have the perverted uncle, his wife (the transvestite aunt?), the rich husband, the wife and on the floor the baby and his toy dog that is running away. Rob Oldham, Orlando Gibbs, Tom Fairbairn, Natasha Cuttler and Jamie Armitage
Jamie Armitage and a stuffed puppy
.

The show premiers on 28th October at Pembroke New Cellars. Do check it out!

Johannes

 

Cast
Writer/Performer – Rob Oldham, Orlando Gibbs, Tom Fairbairn, Jamie Armitage
Performer – Eleanor Colville

Production Team
Producer – Jamie Rycroft
Publicity Designer – Chloe Carroll
Photographer – Johannes Hjorth
Technician – Lewis Scott
Writer – Natasha Cutler
Director – Ellie Warr

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