The session was set up as if it were a girl from the sixties who suddenly finds herself in a current, contemporary and therefore somewhat lost environment. I was interested in highlighting the clothes and the look of those years and contrasting it with modern architecture, of metal and glitter, or dark passages. An urban portrait, with some references to the painting of Edward Hopper. Female characters wrapped in mystery, slow faces waiting for something that never comes…
Lighting diagram 01
I worked outdoors in natural light but it became essential to use flash light to lower the contrast of the scene. I only had two hours of shots because at this time of year, in Barcelona, it gets dark at 7pm and the photos began to be taken from 5pm onwards. The idea was to work with minimal lighting equipment, portable but powerful enough to be able to take the photographs effectively and without surprises.
Godox AD 300 Pro
For this I decided to use the Godox AD300 Pro as I had been told about this flash. It is very compact, at maximum power it allows 320 flashes to be fired, with a recharge speed of 0.01s at its minimum power, up to 1.5 seconds at maximum power. It also introduces the minimum power output control of 1/256, 1/10th of a second increments, and HSS shooting up to 1/8000 of a second which makes it perfect for outdoor portraits.
As I didn’t want the lighting to be too harsh, I used a parabolic window, also from Godox, the AD-S85W, which turned out to be very effective for the result I was looking for. Its deep parabolic shape is one of its important features. This shape allows you to control precisely where the light falls. The Godox X-Pro radio transceiver also proved to be very useful and no shot was missed during the whole session. From there I was able to easily modify the power of the light needed for each shot.
In terms of colour temperature, the flash responded very effectively without generating colour changes, even though natural light increased its colour temperature over the hours. This allowed the skin tones to remain constant throughout the session.
Returning to the intention of this photo session, the cinematographic treatment of the scenes and the use of light were the main elements that differentiated this series. The empty public places underline the solitude of the character represented. I also sought to accentuate the dramatic effect through the strong contrasts of light and shadow.
Lighting diagram 02
Lighting diagram 03
In Edward Hopper’s paintings, time does not pass. It seems to have stopped, condensed into an eternal wait where female faces wait patiently, wrapped in an enigmatic air. His quiet and expectant figures in public places make an enriching and mysterious solitude grow thanks to those dinners, those colours and that disturbing atmosphere. The characters are contained in this way, in transit scenarios.
Lighting diagram 04
They are urban settings where people are diluted in waiting, in that introspective look that perhaps longs for something that is not going to come back. These spaces, which are beyond the sphere of the family, become journeys through time.
Lighting diagram 01
Lighting diagram 02
Lighting diagram 03
Lighting diagram 04
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