These images are from a test shoot that I conducted a few weeks ago. The images were an audition shoot for a much larger project that I am putting together later this year. My project is titled Lost Frequencies, and it’s a WWII story about love that was lost.
Charles Brandon
The character for this project is a man named Charles Brandon, who is a recently married WWII solider that has been shipped out to Europe to fight in the war. Charles is a shy, secretly playful, and intelligent man. His wife, Jessica, brings out his playful side. However, in the story, Charles is faced with more than one battle. Charles is a man that is driven by the need to protect and defend his country, but to do so, he will have to leave his true love behind, Jessica.
Directing Talent
The shoot was conducted as an improve where I placed the models/actors into distinct mindsets, feeding them a location and situation to play in.
Eric Scott Taylor
What stood out about Eric’s performance was his ability to transport me into the world of the character, and these are a few of thing that he did to accomplish that.
-He responded to my comments and questions, which helped feed our “miniature scene” that we were playing in.
-His playfulness towards accents, trying to flush out where the character comes from and what he felt was the most natural to him.
-And of course, his physical acting and subtle facial expressions.
In the series, Eric is dressed in the same outfit, but his subtle shift in facial expressions completely changed the meaning behind each image. In one he appears more heroic, some passive, while others come off as proud and or apprehensive.
Eric was able to give me an incredible variety of expressions to choose from and his willingness to play in front of the camera made the experience all the more worthwhile.
Wardrobe, MUA, & Hair
For all of these categorize I decided to keep things simple, sweet, and based on the classic James Bond character. We went for a traditional blue suit and classic hair and makeup. Clean and simple were the words of the day, and my makeup and hair stylist nailed it. Thank you, Tanya.
Props
Originally I wanted to bring in props and accessories for Eric to play with on set, but ultimately I decided that I wanted to focus more on him as an actor to see what he could do without the help of such props like a gun, sunglasses, or a glass of whiskey.
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography
Lighting
My inspiration for lighting came from looking at 1960's James Bond portraits. In many images, the photographer used hard, directional lighting that emphasized the actor's chiseled features. In my story, Lost Frequencies, Charles has to make very difficult decisions and faces a very dark future at war. I knew that I wanted my lighting to reflect the potential darkness that the character would go through, which is why I chose to use a 3:1 lighting ratio for this shoot.
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography
Retouching
Here are the before and afters of my retouching process.
Thank you to my two assistants, model, and MU & hair stylist for coming together for this shoot. I appreciate the hustle and energy that you all put into this project with me.
Lighting Assistant & Digi Tech: Dustin Soriano @dustinsoriano
Lighting Assistant: Daniela Bornstein @dbornstein
Model: Eric Taylor @eric.scott.
Stylist: Alicia & Susana Blair
Make Up Artist: Tanya @tanyaluxr
To view the final series, please click on the link below.
http://www.aliciamblairphotography.com/male-fashion-portraits
Alicia M. Blair