analog
Some bts shots by Dustin Liu from the set of Savage Good Boy. My lighting team and i worked with a lot of tungsten light to expose the16mm Kodak 500T to exactly the values I was after. The lighting, combined with a beautiful 4k scan by Fotokem and an excellent grade by colorist Kevin Ratigan, made this video one of my favorite excursions with analog film thus far.
I’ve had this photo saved as a draft here for quite a while, along with different disconnected thoughts on my relationship to photography - and how that relates to my understanding of cinematography. I just sat and looked at this image for the first time in a few months and decided to deleted all of that.
I took this photo of my friend Adir embracing his fiancée (now wife) Britt a few years ago while we were wrapping up a music video. I had panned a 750w leko off from set and saw the nice cut it was creating on the wall - so I grabbed my Bronica, placed the two of them, and just waited for a moment. I think I only took two shots and this one came out as one of my favorite still images i’ve ever captured.
The composition and lighting is nice, but it just serves as aesthetic window dressing to capture the tangible emotions emanating between the two of them. I happen to know that Adir was basically dead on his feet from a 14 hour day of performing and Britt had been just as busy set dressing - and maybe that shows in the image, but it isn’t what I feel when I see it. The image feels like caring.
Now maybe only I feel that when I see it. I hope not, but that would be fine. Those who are passionate about creating images tend to hold themselves to a very high standard, so acknowledging that something you created is good can often be a feat in and of itself. To take it one step further and say “this one makes me feel something,” is quite rare (at least for me).
Making an image - whether in motion or not - that can illicit a singular emotional response is incredibly difficult. Most of the time it takes a combination of incredibly talented individuals with a shared understanding of goals, as well as a lot of meticulous planning. Sometimes though, it’s as simple as putting the right people in the right light and waiting.
Assorted color shots. Top row is from 2018-2019 shot on an Olympus point-and-shoot with Kodak and Fuji 35mm stock. Following rows are medium format from my Bronica all experimenting with flavors of Kodak Portra. All of the medium format is from 2020.
