Photographer and "Model" Interaction - some insights from the Inner Core Project

Inner Core Project

The “Inner Core Project” is the attempt of showing the deeper inner layer of a person’s personality in photographs. I think this is a very ambitious idea and I am still not really certain if this is possible at all.

During the photoshoots of the past four weeks with five different collaborators I have made some discoveries that I would like to share with you. And maybe some of these discoveries can be transferred to “normal” portrait photography.

Connecting to the “Inner Core”

The starting point of every photo shoot is that I ask my “model”/collaborator how they think they are able to connect the best way to their inner core, to themselves, to the deepest part of their personality. And depending on their character, the professional work that they do and their temperament they have chosen different ways of of approaching their inner core.

I worked with two dancers. Marine wanted to find herself by moving her body in a spontaneous way on the ground and by dancing. Neven chose a natural environment outside where he just rested and let himself fall into the feeling of connecting to nature. Surya, who is a Yoga teacher did not (as expected by me) want to meditate to focus on her inner being but decided to dance wildly and use her body intensely to get the connection to herself. Bettina decided to use a pose where she laid down on the floor in a comfortable position on her side. She rested and tried to feel herself. And Tania just sat down on the ground and tried to look inside without doing anything specific. So everyone had a different way of connecting to their “inner core”, to themselves.

I also asked my collaborators to choose the place where they wanted to have the photo shoot. The assumption is that the more comfortable a person is with her or his environment the easier it is to connect to themselves.

Asking my “models” not to wear cloths during the photo shooting was another aspect of the project. My assumption is that cloths are another outside layer that prevent seeing deeper into a person’s inner core. So I asked if they could not wear any cloths apart from a slip. The purpose of the slip is to avoid any sexualization of the photo shoot or even more importantly not to distract viewers from the statement of the pictures by drawing their glances to the genitalia of my “models”. Three participants could agree to this request, two chose to wear underwear or a T-shirt on the upper body.

Technical Aspects

From a technical perspective I use a small and light camera, mainly my RICOH GR III that I can easily hold in one hand. I also tried using my Leica M Monochrom and a Leica Q2 which is a new camera for me. I will write a separate article about my experience with the Q2 in the near future. The two Leicas are much heavier than the GR III (approx. 800g vs. 260g for the GR III) which clearly limits their usability for this specific purpose.

Choosing long exposure times of approximately 1/6 of a second, sometimes much longer up to 5 or even 10 seconds is another part of the project. With the Leica MM and Q2 I have used 6 stop ND filters to make shooting with long exposure in daylight possible. The GR III can’t attach a ND filter which limits its use in very bright environments. As I have already mentioned in previous articles I am assuming that with longer exposure times it is easier to get a glance into the Inner Core of a person.

I had also decided that I would process the pictures in b&w under the assumption that colour would most likely distract from the purpose of this project.

The idea of the shooting process is that the photographer does nothing but follow his collaborators with his camera. I don’t speak, I am not asking them to pose or to make certain movements. I try to adapt entirely to the wishes and needs of my “models”. Of course this makes taking photos much more difficult from a technical perspective. I cannot influence the angle of light, the way they move, the background that I catch together with the person that I am shooting.

One shooting happened in the evening so that I had to use a handheld LED light. Holding the camera with one hand and taking pictures, holding the light in the other hand and following my “model” and her movements and coordinating all this to get reasonable photos was a very challenging task.

And now I would like to come to the most interesting aspect of this whole project. There are actually two aspects. One is the question if I can really show and document the Inner Core, the inner being of a person in a photograph. And the other aspect is that of the interaction between “model” and photographer.

Showing the “Inner Core”?

Is it possible to show the “inner Core” in a photograph? Photography deals with two-dimensional recordings of shape, light, texture and colour if it is a colour picture. They “see” a person from outside. So a photograph completely depends on what a person shows in their facial expression and body posture. The camera can’t “look inside”. So the question is if my “models” show something outside that could be perceived as the Inner Core.

I can certainly confirm that during these sessions my collaborators were in a state of more or less deep self-immersion which was clearly visible on their faces and also in their postures. Interestingly I found out that later when processing the pictures I could find features in their faces and their postures that I had not seen or discovered during the shooting process. But is that a representation of the “Inner Core”? I really don’t know. I don’t have an answer to the question.

Do we see the Inner Core?

The Interaction

The interaction between photographer and “model” is a crucial aspect in this project and of course in portrait photography in general. An important question is if the presence of the photographer changes the ability of a “model” to connect to herself or himself. My answers are mixed. My feeling during the sessions of my two dancing models was that they were so focussed on their own movements that the presence of the photographer did not faze them. The ones who wehere resting tended more towards getting in contact with me by looking into the camera or even talking to me. If that distracted them is difficult to tell, my feeling was that this was the case.

All five “models” told me that they were able to connect to their deeper inner self and that the presence of a photographer did not really affect this connection very much.

I can clearly say that the nudity of my “models” did not distract me nor did it have an impact on the atmosphere of the shootings.

Another aspect of interaction is my way of shooting my participants. Depending on how much they move I need to follow my “models” with my camera and try to improvise with every picture I take. That leads to a lot of intuitive shooting where I don’t have the time or opportunity to plan or compose a picture purposefully. But even though this aspect is limited I do have an influence on how the pictures eventually look by choosing the frame and roughly composing the picture which leads to the question if my personal approach has an influence on how the Inner Core becomes visible or not. So the outcome does not only depend on what the participant is able or willing to reveal but also on how the photographer chooses to shoot the frame.

Particularly this aspect of “model” and photographer behaviour and interaction has a big impact on the outcome not only in my little project but also on outcomes of portrait photography in general. I believe that both “behaviours” decide as to how the eventual outcome of a picture is like. I have to admit that I loathe pictures where it is obvious that the photographer has urged his model into a pose without realising the comfort zone nor the personality of his model. My project goes into the other extreme by trying to minimise the influence of the photographer on the outcome and to let the person shine from inside. But I would assume that working with what a model brings to the shooting is always an essential part the looks and the success of portrait photographs. (Maybe one day I should write an article about the difference of portrait pictures with and without “posing”).

No posing….

Post-Processing

As we all know a picture is not done by the end of the photo shoot. Post-processing is an essential part of the process of picture creation. And of cause this is the case in my little project.

I have discovered that every photoshoot requires a different workflow because of the different set-ups and characters of the person I shoot. I convert the pictures to black and white, change the lighting, add grain and if necessary crop the pictures. Every picture goes through a workflow in Lightroom, Photoshop and Nik Silver Efex.

Of cause my perception of the picture, my memories of the shooting and my decision as to how to develop the picture has an impact on the final outcome of the picture. Considering the goal of wanting to show the Inner Core of a person you may ask how much this developing process alters or even “falsifies” the picture. At least does my perception of the picture, does my aesthetical decision making have an influence on the final outcome. I take the liberty to enhance the picture according to what I think is visible and needs to be emphasised.

Post-processing as the final step of a photographic workflow has been discussed a million times. And the question if we have “the right” to alter a picture once it has been taken has still not been answered. And I don’t want to go into the depth of this discussion. But what I want to say is that I am aware that my decision making during the development of the pictures on the computer has an impact on how the project is shaped. It is my subjective perception and my awareness that decide how a picture shows the Inner Core of a person in my photographs.

The Journey

I find the it fascinating to deal with something so intimate as the inner being of a person and that I get permission to try to reveal it in photographs. I find it fascinating that the interaction of photographer and “model” influence the process. And I am aware of the limitations of my own judgement with regard to my decision making during the development process of these pictures.

Not only do I get the opportunity of working with human beings so closely, its also gives me the opportunity of thinking about the creation process of photographs and the interaction between the photographer and his models. All this is much more than I had ever expected before I started the first photo shoot. It is a fascinating journey into the discovery of human beings, their behaviour and myself as a photographer.

Will I ever find an answer? Is it possible to show the “Inner Core” in a photograph? Maybe this is completely unimportant. Maybe it is the journey that counts, the journey and the human interaction.

Thank you very much Herr Schlattner (or - the planning of a photo shoot)

When you want to do a photo shoot with a person, a “model” as we say and as I really don’t like saying, things are slightly different from going out on the street or into nature. As you have a certain goal you also need to plan the shooting. And that means you need to find a “model”, the right time and of course a suitable place.

I don’t own or rent a studio. (It would be completely useless in my case as I am traveling from Greece to New Zealand to Australia and back. Where would I have my studio then?) So I need to find a place where I can shoot. It turned out that I was very lucky in Osnabrück. Marine, my first “model” knew the owner of a Yoga place in town who was willing to let us shoot at his premises.

But I wanted a second session at a different place. And on my mind I had an industrial place, possible abandoned and in it’s original state. Such a place is really hard to find, particularly if you don’t know the city, it’s environment and the options it gives you.

So I started driving around and I came to an old harbour area where they had started refurbishing storage buildings and halls. Regrettably none of those buildings was in the original state anymore and the ones that I found were already refurbished and turned into relatively small office spaces which where not suitable for a photo shoot.

But then I discovered a large storage hall where the refurbishment works were just on their way. With a little bit of chuzpe I drove into the building site and right in front of me a grey haired chap was walking on the street blocking me from continuing. He actually looked like the foreman of this building site.

So I started talking to him asking him if he knew if the place could be used for a photo shoot. And immediately he said that yes, this would be possible and I could take a look at the hall and decide if it was suitable for my purposes. He came across as a very assertive and cooperative foreman indeed.

We walked around on the site where builders were working and creating a lot of dust. The hall was gorgeous. Approximately 60 meters long, 30 meters wide and at least 10 meters high with large windows all around the top of the walls. A huge photo studio!

Our “Photo Studio”

I said “yes!”, that place I would love to use. And he told me that I could use it over the weekend when works were interrupted, he just needed to know when exactly because he would need to open the building site for us. He gave me his cell phone number and told me his name. “Schlattner” he grumbled with a typical Austrian accent.

So I contacted Marine, my dancer and we arranged for our shooting for the following Saturday. And Herr Schlattner told me that he would be in his office on the building site the whole day anyway. “Hm”, I was thinking by myself, “a foreman who works at his office the whole weekend?”

So I googled him as soon as I returned back home. And of course I discovered that my assertive foreman was the owner of the building company that was doing the work at that storage hall. And for whatever reason he had a heart for the arts and for a poor photographer. I was really incredibly lucky.

Herr Schlattner, you were very generous and I thank you very much for the wonderful opportunity that you gave us for our photo shoot!

Working with models

After having worked with portrait models for a little less than a year I would like to write about my approach and my experiences. 

When I shoot portraits I am currently limited to outdoor areas because I don’t have a studio and no lighting equipment. Apart from depending on the weather this does not seem a major disadvantage to me. I can work with natural light and using the streets and parks for shooting certainly works for me.  I would still like to have a place where I can create light and where I can set the atmosphere and have shooting conditions that I can determine myself. Maybe a little later,  currently I travel so much between Greece and New Zealand that it does not make sense to have a studio in one place anyway. 

But I mainly wanted to write about working with models. I currently only work with people that are no professional models. They are people that I either find in the streets or friends or acquaintances of mine. In other words, my models have only limited or no shooting experience which means that I should direct them and tell them what to do and how to pose.  And exactly that I don’t do. Very purposefully I don’t give them directions as to how to move, to strike a pose or to show a certain facial expression.   The reason is that I am interested in finding out who my models are as a person and I am trying to capture this person when I shoot. Poses or directions would only distract and lead us away from my goal. 

I tell my models before the shooting that I am not going to tell them what to do and how to behave. Instead of giving instructions I start having a talk with them. I ask them about their lives, about ideas, attitudes, things that they love or dislike. And I tell my story, tell them who I am, what I do, how I have developed my photography. It often develops into an exchange of experiences, of life stories and opinions. I learn a lot about my models and I love getting to know them a little. 

I do tell my models where I want us to go, where I think the light is good and what kind of backdrop I like and want to shoot them in. But from the moment we find a place it is mainly a situation of interaction and shooting the model during this interaction. A disadvantage is that during talking faces are very difficult to shoot, often features are distorted or eyes half closed. So I need to wait for little breaks between the interaction. This is actually nice because often I find that emotions from the last topic or sentences remain in the faces of my models which enhances their facial expression.  

It often is also interesting to watch with the camera what a person is doing with a certain situation. A few days ago I went with my model Ioanna to a long open air stairs in the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens. From the stairs you have a look from above over a part of Athens. Ioanna sat down on the stairs spontaneously and watched the city with a kind of far away glance in her eyes. This coincided nicely with the talk we had about her traveling and living in many different places. And the pictures that I could take had a very special and particular mood.

Ioanna with the “far away glance” in her eyes

Keeping the situation open and letting the model develop within this situation is something that I like very much. We create a little human laboratory situation where the interaction between photographer and model and the environment become the basis for visual story telling. 

Is it possible to grasp “the essence” of a person in a single picture? The question is more if we can even talk about “the “ essence of a human being. Every situation, every social interaction evokes a particular atmosphere which influences the mood of a model and his or her facial expression. Yes, there are recurring traits of character that we can try to find and to depict. But reducing a person on one single picture appears to be very difficult and even a bold task to me.  However, maybe that will change if I develop more experience over the time. 

During one photo shoot I take between 200 and 300 pictures of my model in different locations. I take about two hours for this task, a time that my (unpaid) models are usually willing to dedicate to the experience. Later when culling, curating and processing the pictures I reduce the number to 10 to 15 pictures that I process. After the processing I send the final JPEG versions of the images to my models via WeTransfer, together with a big thank you. 

I find the human interaction between myself and my models interesting and fascinating. This allows me to dip into the lives of people that I don’t know and have never met before. And it appears that even sometimes some lasting relationships or friendships can develop. This experience is at least as important as the photographic one and the pictures that we can create together.