Lowlight: Taking portraits of long haired girls on the windy terrace of the Royal Festival Hall!
Fill in: This annual event is always attended by the cream of the poetry scene along with the hot new talents. Basically The Poetry Society take over the whole ground floor of the Festival Hall and cram it with all sorts of audio and visual goodies. If you think poetry is a load of odd balls in corduroy jackets spouting unintellligible mishmash, then think again. This year there was everything from recitals by Simon Armitage to edible poems you made yourself to take away poems made up on the spot from a fast food van. Sought after veterans signed copies of their latest musings and school kids played poetry bingo on the floor. The performances made me howl, weep, gasp and grin.
Tech Spec: The whole day is about thinking on your feet as there are on the spot headshots to be done of all kinds of characters from loud and vivacious to shy and retiring. Poets of all shapes and sizes, all kinds of mentality and across the age range and I need to get as many as possible so the Poetry Society have them in their archives. There are also performance shots to be had and documentary of the day's activities. I shoot all the headshots in natural light as there is no time to set up lights and I like each shot to be as individual as possible. There are some great naturally lit areas in the Festival hall anyway so I make the most of it. As well as the the open event, there are the Foyles awards to be captured and sponsors group shots to be done along with PR shots of the Foyles winners so it is an action packed day. I shoot with two cameras, one with a 24-70mm zoom and one 105mm F2 for the headshots. ISO can be as high as 6400 as the lighting in the performance are aid very subdued.
For more info www.thepoetrysocietry.org.uk
Also check out:
www.thepoetree.net
www.simonarmitage.com/
www.glynmaxwell.com/
www.thefirepoet.com/home.html
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