As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness…
~ from ‘East Coker’, T.S. Eliot ~
Photography is part theatricality, part poetry.
The photographic process was, on the whole, very experimental. We used a variety of photographic media, from digital capture to as many as nine different types of film. Gear-wise, we used DSLRs, film SLRs, a D-I-Y semi-toy camera and even a camera phone.
If this set-up seems to lack focus it is purely because we wanted to tell the story of the Experimental Theatre in as many ‘languages’ as possible—each film type differs from one another just as film differs from digital. There is no one best media for photography as each imparts its own interpretation of the textures and moods in the E.T.
Lighting
For the principal shoot, our main challenge was lighting. While most of the photographs were shot under natural light, some of the concept shots required artificial light—especially when we were trying to simulate a theatre in full swing. With no electricity in the E.T. then, we tapped the power supply near the Bilik Anjung DTC, connecting our flood lights via nearly 300 metres of reeled cables.
This was sufficient to get power up to the foyer outside the Gallery, and down into the rooms below stage. Our light sources were as varied as tungsten floodlights, a standing lamp, flash units, candles and even a cigarette lighter.
Photography is all about lighting and composition; getting that right is the tricky part—the camera work is far easier. Our subsequent shoots of the renovation in progress were performed mostly with long exposures as we wanted to capture the ‘work-in-progress’ mood in ambient light.
Left: Cable reels facing rooftop.
Right: Fixing the tungsten floods.
The set-up for the shoot included homemade light stands, tungsten floodlights, cable reels, cardboard and foil reflectors, extension cables, a standing lamp, a mirror, and a ladder.
Tungsten floodlights, flash units and natural window light in the foyer outside the Gallery. Picture taken with an ultra-wide-angle lens.
Composition
Our compositions were made, by and large, through the perspectives of a few lens focal lengths: ultrawide-angle and wide-angle (35mm equivalent: between 14mm and 25mm), and normal (35mm equivalent: 50mm).
We used wide-angles to exaggerate perspective, space and depth, in an attempt to convey the majesty and cavernous feel of the E.T.
Normal lenses were chosen for their ‘natural’ perspective (similar to the human eye’s), and also for their speed, as shooting under natural light in the relatively dimly-lit E.T. required fast/bright lenses.
Printing
An equally tedious process, as we wanted to make sure that the prints were of sufficient quality so as to outlast all of us—prints as immortal as the E.T.
We opted to have the black-and-white film printed by hand using silver-halide chemical processes—the method traditionally employed by fine art photographers for decades.
The other prints were made on Kodak Endura paper, which imparts realistic and somewhat muted tones, instead of amping up saturation and contrast as do many printing processes today.
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