Behind the Fringe: From the Fringe Photographer
So I’m halfway into taking pictures of the 20th edition of the Montreal Fringe Festival. It’s my 5th time taking pictures as one of two “official photographers”. Prior to that, I started getting involved at the Fringe straight out of high school and have been an active volunteer for years, with a camera in my bag.
This was where I had the chance to document the surroundings and then they realized they needed someone. I ended up getting the opportunity when their regular Fringe photographer left the country for the year. He came back and as the festival had gotten bigger, it made sense to have two photographers.
The way I shoot I make sure I’m aware of both the performance and the audience. It’s great to get a moment in the show however you got someone on stage creating that moment and the audience wanting to enjoy the moment so I’m careful. I always go for moments with a noise or if there’s loud music then no problems.
Along with fringe photography, I would provide my services to artists when they need to put together their press kits, a good photo can be used in programs and websites however these photos are what gets them noticed in the media.
I worked with two companies this past year: one was a duo dance performance and the other was a one woman show. Different concepts of photography.
Oppo
I did photos for the show Oppo: a two-part performance with dance, acrobat and theatre performance. I worked with Stu McIntyre & Caroline Rochefort one afternoon as the show was still developing. They had a concept based on their street performances (they’ve done work over at the Jazz Festival).
We did the photo shoot in a dance studio in the John Molson Building at Concordia. White background, hard floors that was easy for them to move around in. A couple costume changes and a deck of cards to work with. The one drawback was that their show primary dealt with balancing on chairs however the chairs in the studio weren’t too sturdy. We made sure we can still get the photo and no one got hurt in the process.
It was a lot of fun, I find dance challenging to take pictures of however I’m still coming across a lot of dance, learning how the body moves and how dancers can push limits in terms of strength and agility.
Hot Pink
I’ve known Alison Louder for years and this was the year she would have her first solo show. She wanted to go into a direction that was in contrast to the Alison I would hang out with. She came up with a concept with a metaphoric cave and the imagination.
We constructed one out of a cardboard box we found across the street and decorated it with Christmas lights and candles. This was shoot one of two as we did a concept with lots of candles.
The idea of the box played on a hiding place, a sense of isolation, a warm safe sanction. It didn’t take too long to construct and Alison played her character while I was taking pictures.
The end result are on posters around St Laurent and Rachel in the beer tent until Sunday. You can also check out Oppo at Studio Tangente at 840 Cherrier, Hot Pink at Association Portuguaise at 4170 St-Urbain.
Fringe photos I’ve taken so far:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cindylopez/collections/72157624288698754/
The Montreal Fringe goes until Sunday. Go check out shows. Info at:
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Tags: Alison Louder, Association Portuguaise, beer tent, dance, Hot Pink, Montreal Fringe Festival, Oppo, Stu McIntyre & Caroline Rochefort, Tangente, theatre
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