Production Photo Notes
The majority of the photos on these gallery pages were taken during a dress run. The stage lighting was not altered from the performance cue for the photos. No flash was used.
Despite the advances in digital photography, the camera still alters the look of the performance. More specifically, cameras often make the scene look more contrasty...whites burn brighter and darks disappear into blackness more noticeably than they do on stage.
This also means that photos can flatten some of the sculpting qualities of stage light. When the stage light sculpts, it can create such a huge intensity difference between light and dark that the camera cannot capture that range without blowing out the whites, or obliterating the detail in the shadows. An exposure chosen the deal effectively with one of these extremes will fail at the other extreme resulting in a picture without the apparent intensity range that the live performance had.
Nothing can replace attending the live performance. In photographing a performance, I am necessarily trying to capture one medium using another medium. That always loses something in the translation. But, I have done my best to make these pictures match, as closely as possible, the experience of actually being there. The only adjustments that I made to the pictures were intended to compensate for the camera's distortions. I corrected perspective distortions, straightened unlevel pictures and tried to fix any poorly exposed shots taken in haste to capture the precise moment I wanted. OK, I also digitally removed the dust artifact caused by my failure to clean the scanner glass!
Photographs cannot capture movement. The most beautiful lighting moments in a show often incorporate movement. Scene transitions, cues that move with actor movement, and performers moving through broken light all can look mesmerizing on stage, but fall flat in pictures.
Though it's becoming less of an issue than it used to be, digital cameras and computers can distort color. Cameras and photo processing software have very sophisticated color control tools. But, I cannot control the monitor, or device, on which my visitors will view my images. Different monitors can render color differently. Even the angle of the monitor relative to the viewer can change the color appearance. Visitors who frequently process digital pictures for printing may have their monitor calibrated to match the printer they use. People who don't do this may be using a default color balance which is frequently different--especially in the rendering of blues. The blues in a photo frequently look more saturated, and therefore more present than they did on stage.
I have tried for a happy medium in preparing my photos for this site. But if 10 people view my images on 10 different machines, they will likely see 10 variations of color palatte.
So, why bother with pictures? They're the next best thing. They do give a flavor of the show, even though they are not an exact copy.
Most of these photos are full stage shots. That is the usual audience experience. When I have chosen a shot at closer range, I have selected a look where the loss of the surrounding context will not obliterate the intent of the light.
Please enjoy the show(s)!
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