You may have noticed I mentioned Caravaggio and Rory Lewis in my last post. One of these is an old influence, the other very recent.
Mentors and inspiration are important for any creative endeavour, but you have to be aware of the difference between a true mentor and an infatuation.
I stumbled over Rory Lewis as you do googling something like “one light portraits” or similar, but what ever, his style and inspirations really resonated. Gavin Hoey, Jeff Rojas and others are the usual culprits, but Lewis stirred something new in me.
His lighting is simple, as is the gear used (although cameras are usually top end full rame or medium format with matched lenses-why not, when you only have one job) as staying portable and working fast is a priority and he does not drive. I must admit, pinning down his gear has been a little difficult, with comments like (under “a essential my gear” post), “I prefer a deep silver brolly”, but I have looked at a lot of his behind the scenes posts and never seen him using one, almost always using a shoot through or occasionally a soft box? In another case he says he uses Canon gear, in others medium format.
Lastolite feature heavily, but other than that he really does not harp on gear, or lighting, saying he feels lighting is 20% of the job and direction the rest.
I am amazed at the quality of his work considering he often only used a shoot through brolly, maybe an octa or reflector, but little else.
One of his most interesting statements is that with the exception of specific past photographic masters, he never looks at other contemporary photographers work, developing his own style using only great artists of the past like Guthrie, Caravaggio etc, all exponents of clear portrait messaging and often stronger lighting.
Caravaggio has always intrigued me, being the most contemporary and photographic of the old masters.
It is no coincidence that my first studio session with Meg and Daisy, was against a black background. If the mark of a good portrait is to see the inner person (or dog), then I hope I will be able to do that.
I will try to find my own style, something that means something to me, but more importantly, to the subjects of my sessions.