While living and working in the Southwest, I embarked on a project shooting for the small, yet remarkably busy Barbican Theatre Company. Working alongside David Oddie—brother of the infamous Bill—I was granted a backstage pass to every small-stage production, tour, and workshop they ran.
I had total access to photograph rehearsals and curtain calls, which allowed me to build up a substantial folio of acting portraiture and stage production work. My technique back then was probably a bit “sketchy” by modern standards; I was obsessed with natural light and constantly tried to scrape images out of the near-darkness. Most rehearsals took place in half-light rather than full stage lighting, which was a technical nightmare but a brilliant education in pushing gear to its limits.
However, it gave me the platform to showcase my work and produce a few frames that still hold up. This particular image, taken during a production exploring the theme of abuse, remains one of my favorites. The combination of the haunting subject matter and the heavy grain gave it exactly the atmosphere it needed. At the time, Alun Bull and I were obsessed at this time with Kodak T-MAX 3200 — we’d push it to the point of being boring, but for shots like this, that grit was essential.
I feel a massive scanning session coming on, as there is plenty more theatre work buried in the archives. I’ll be sure to post some more soon.
The Nikon FA was my workhorse during these years. Using a 24mm lens allowed me to stay close to the performers while still capturing the wooden floorboards and the spatial relationship between the actors, which really heightened that sense of isolation. When the lottery win finally happens, I’ll probably just hire a full-time archivist to help me get through the mountain of negatives I still have left to scan!
capture date | 1990 – 1991
camera | Nikon FA
lens | 24mm
focal length | 24mm
aperture | n/a
shutter speed | n/a
shooting mode | program
exposure bias | +0.0
metering mode | zone
ISO | 3200
flash | no
image quality | filmscan
RAW converter | n/a
cropped? | slight