Mikquan Deane
I met Mikquan back in January during another collaborative project and was impressed with his comfort in front of the camera. After chatting a bit back and forth we were finally able to do an exclusive shoot together and damn… we made something really cool! The purpose of this entry is to discuss some of the techniques and tools I used for our shoot as well discuss the importance of making time for creative play. I was honest with Mikquan about my busy schedule and knew that we might have to do something off the cuff so to speak, when I could find some time last minute. So when I had a cancellation in my schedule I coordinated with him and we made it happen.
I have always enjoyed working with men and feel I haven’t been able to find many to work with. At least models who are comfortable in front of the camera and willing to donate their time to a potential experimental project that may or may not yield desirable results. This was one such shoot. Going into this last minute I didn’t have a clear vision, however I knew I had some lighting techniques in my repertoire that I could setup quickly and would give good results. As well, I always, always consider color before going into a shoot. In my experience, blue light looks particularly good on dark skin so that was my starting point with Mikquan. Blue light + dark skin = beauty. As many of you know, red is my favorite color and I use it often in my work. Maybe too much haha! But I choose to view it as a motif in my artistic expression as it represents some deep emotions that I feel often. Red also pairs well with deep, saturated blue so I chose it as the background color for this shoot. Moving on to light placement.
There are two lighting techniques that almost always look good on camera with most subjects; top down lighting and back lighting. Top down is familiar to the eye as it is what we see most often outside in the middle of the day and inside in probably every building and room you have ever been in. The characteristics of top down lighting vary however, depending on how you choose to modify the light. In general, top down lighting yields heavy shadows over the eyes, under the nose and under the neck. It can accentuate the jaw line and make a male model appear tough and menacing, giving them a mysterious quality in the process. So I used a top down light with a small soft box and gelled it primary blue. The soft box helped diffuse and distribute the light more evenly over Mikquan’s shoulders and chest.
After taking several shots with the top down blue and red backdrop I decided I wanted to play a little… The next addition was my projector. The projector has been a love/hate for sure. It is an incredible tool that can elevate a shoot, however it has taken a lot of trial and error to successfully incorporate it into my work. More on this in the future. With the addition of the projector and another red gel I was able to cast a wide variety of shapes over Mikquan’s shoulders, chest and arms. This added the extra little “secret sauce" element that took the shoot to the next level.
I would like to end this entry with a piece of advice, and that is this; remember to play. As an artist I feel it is so important to have time and space to explore new ideas or revisit old ones. As I have progressed as an artist and begun to take on more professional work I have had times where I have lost touch with the passion and craft of what I do. This can lead to an unhealthy balance and manifest things like burn out or a creative block. It is important to have time to play and create without expectation. Had I not taken on this shoot with this mindset of creative play I may not have been able to produce these amazing pieces. I really love what I was able to create with Mikquan and I hope you enjoy the images. Thank you for reading and remember to go out and play. Cheers.
