Oneiric Reclamation
What started out as a conversation among photographers over drinks materialized into the biggest collaborations of talent that I’ve seen in my 5 years of photography. The concept and idea was simple…. 1 location, 8 photographers, 1 model each, 1 image each. The concept revolved around 1 word, “oneiric,” which means “of or relating to dreams.” The planning and coordination that went into it would take months. Project Oneiric was a way that all involved could contribute and see each individual vision come to life. For the complete story on the background and development of Project Oneiric, please check out fellow photographer Clay Cook’s blog post http://www.clay-cook.com/post/79418657163/project-oneiric
As the project developed, each photographer was paired up with a team that included a makeup artist, hairstylist and a stylist/designer. I was excited to be working with all new people with my team (Christopher Caswell, Rick Bancroft and Dylan Kremer). They are each talented in their own way, and using this combination of styles and backgrounds was something that was exciting for me. Each photographer was able to choose their own model for the project. As I thought about what kind of look and skill I would need for the project, I knew that I would need somebody with a diverse look. It would have to be somebody that could focus on the moment and maintain composure in a difficult pose and setting. The first name that came to mind was Brooke Taylor. I had worked with her several times before, and I knew that she would be the perfect fit for the role.
As our team planned the shoot, we knew we wanted something that would fall within the general theme, but made use of the location. I had shot in the Icehouse before, so I had a couple of general ideas. Members of the team also contributed their ideas. We wanted it to be ethereal, but still grounded in reality. We didn’t want us to lock ourselves into one idea in the case that we wouldn’t have the setting or circumstances to make it work. We would leave ourselves open to improvisation. This is something that I’m familiar with, and the creativity style that I’m most comfortable with. Within our arsenal we had picture frames, smoke bombs, antique clocks, etc. We refined our ideas up until the day of the shoot, and had a general idea of what the look of the model was going to be. Christopher Caswell pulled some connections in order to get us a vintage dress and cape that we could use. The hair and makeup was going to be dramatic, but not overdone.
Finally, the day of the shoot came. Excitement, energy and anticipation filled the main venue of the Icehouse as teams started working on their concepts. I think that everybody was in awe at the amount of planning and the visions that were going into each individual set. I had the time to walk around a bit while Brooke was getting her hair and makeup done. Sets were being created here and there….. mannequins, carousel horses, beds…. it was apparent that we were all stepping up in a big way for this. It was a truly impressive sight. However, I knew that I needed to get my own set figured out, so Michelle Patterson Gleckler and I started scouting for our spot. I was somewhat disappointed that the massive hole in the wall one of the floors had been covered over. I had a vision in my head to do some levitation shots of Brooke floating out of the hole. This goes back to my improvisation comment, and why I almost never lock myself into one idea unless I’m sure of the setting and circumstances. We climbed floor after floor up the spiraling staircase, and each floor seemed to look the same…. big columns, dusty floors, little ambient light. Then we got to the 6th floor. The first thing that I noticed was the floor. The Icehouse is currently being totally gutted and renovated for loft condos. The concrete floor had just been jackhammered with the jackhammers still laying on the floor. This created a scene that I will probably never likely see again. Additionally, there was a large opening in wall, that was letting in just enough ambient light that I could use for my exposure. I’m a big fan of mixing ambient light and strobes on location, and this played especially well to our ethereal, dreamy theme. The next thing was…. what were we going to do with this floor? How would we incorporate it into our image? Thoughts ran through my head. Somehow I wanted to the floor to show action… like something just happened. It honestly looked like it just got struck by an earthquake, so this was perfect. I remembered seeing an antique chair in the hair and makeup room downstairs, so Michelle and I lugged it upstairs 6 stories along with my equipment. We placed the chair in the rocks and at an angle with one of the legs buried in the rocks. I would have Brooke falling out of the chair, which would require some assistance and the use of multiple exposures.
The team had finished Brooke’s look. Cell phone pics were taken; selfies were made. It was now time to rock and roll. I had let Brooke know what the plan and concept was going to be, and she didn’t seem to be scared away by it. We had her stand in the chair and Dylan caught her a few times. They were good images, but didn’t have quite the feel I was going for. I also wanted the dress to fill more of the frame, so we brought in a fan and placed it directly under the tail of the dress. That helped somewhat, but I wasn’t quite satisfied with the flow of the dress. With Chris’ ingenuity of tying the dress to the fan with a piece of fishing wire, we were now very close to our final image. We changed our strategy a little bit and had Brooke leaning to the left and Chris was behind her holding her up so that she wouldn’t fall. I reminded Brooke that we only needed one image, and she had to look totally in the moment. We counted to three and she ripped off 3-4 unbelievable poses; they were so good, it was hard for me to decide on which one we would use for the final image. Nevertheless, I knew that we had our shot. The rest would be the easy part. We had bounced around ideas of melting clocks, floating chairs and beams, etc. I had Michelle hold these items in several spots so that I could use them to create a composite afterwards and blend them into the final image. My camera remained on my tripod in the same location and settings for each shot. At the end, Michelle had a great idea to use a broom to kick up the dust that was on the floor. This ended up being a key element to the image. In the editing process, I spent several hours using several layers to create what I thought would be the final image. There were floating chairs, beams, etc, just as planned; however, I had to step back and question that. To me it was a cool effect, but totally unnecessary for this image. I started deleting the layers. I even photoshopped the clock out that I was going to have melting or exploding. What I did end up using was the dust. This gave the image texture, and also made it look as if the floor had just collapsed. I used 2 different layers to brush it into the right spots. I used a base layer of the setting to photoshop Chris, Dylan and Elizabeth out of the frame. Beyond that, the editing was pretty simple. I used some curves layers and sharpened in certain areas. It was much simpler than I had anticipated, but it was just right. We had our image with much less.
I want to thank my incredible team for coming together and each adding their own element of creativity in creating this image. I also want to thank all the people that came out to support the Project Oneiric event. Your support means a lot to all of us. And I’d like to thank my fellow photographers who all came together for the shoot and the event in order to create, support each other and to share this experience. It’s something I will not forget.
Model – Brooke Taylor
Styling/creative direction – Christopher Caswell
Makeup – Rick Bancroft
Hair – Dylan Kremer
Assistant – Michelle Patterson Gleckler
Assistant – Kylie Rhew
Assistant – Elizabeth Morrison
Technical details:
Lighting – Einstein shot into octobox, camera right, 1/8 power.
Camera settings – f/6.3, 1/40, ISO 1250
Black and white behind-the-scenes images courtesy of Michelle Patterson Gleckler. Group shot at the Oneiric event courtesy of Tina Smith.
