Shooting During the Pandemic

On set during an executive leadership team portrait shoot. Thanks to my client communications advisor for sitting in for our illustration shot, and thanks to Miora Wong for snapping the photo.

How great did it feel to be back on set last week photographing 14 executives for their organization's website refresh! I just wanted to share a few things about this shoot as it was, for obvious reasons, a bit different from shoots like this we did before the pandemic.

The primary deciding factor in terms of this shoot's being made possible was people's comfort levels with the safety protocols in place. As the client organization is a health related business, they were already fully set-up to accommodate screening upon entry and rigorous sanitation procedures within the building. For some portrait subjects this was their first out-of-home work experience since the lock down, so the bar was high in terms of their trusting their health would not be compromised.

First of all the room we were scheduled to shoot in was very spacious, so lots of air space and no need to be in close proximity to anyone else. My assistant and I drove to the location in separate cars. The number of people in the room was limited to my assistant and me and the subject. Each half hour session was spaced half an hour apart, so in between each session my assistant and I could go outside for fresh air while cleaners came in and sanitized every surface that may have been touched during the photo session. We also had our own container of Clorox wipes just in case.

Subjects would enter the room and make their way to their portrait seat where they would remove their mask and place it on a fresh kleenex on a chair (which was one of the surfaces disinfected repeatedly). My assistant and I wore mandatory masks provided by the facility. And if and when I needed to approach the subject to style their hair or adjust their clothing, with their permission, I first donned a face screen and a pair of single use exam gloves. (I went through a lot of gloves!)

When it was time to review and make selects the subject would take a seat on a (repeatedly disinfected) chair in front of which was an external monitor attached to my laptop by an eight foot long cable, so we could go through their portraits together while maintaining safe physical distance.

As anyone who has worked with me knows, I offer a full service experience; one of my key working style features is my hands on attention to detail. When we don't have a hair and make-up artist on set I make sure that subjects' hair is tidy and nicely styled (as much as I can help with hair spray and a comb.) I also do what I can to mitigate wrinkles in subjects' clothing, straighten ties and necklaces, etc. I had wondered if I would have to forego my usual attention to detail which requires such close proximity between subject and photographer, but I wouldn't have been able to deliver the clean, professional looking portraits I'm known for if I didn't get in close, especially on these two shoot days which were unusually windy and humid, meaning subjects were finding it very hard (ie. impossible) to show up "camera ready".  The upshot is that for the foreseeable future a face screen and gloves will be part of my kit. In fact I may never give up the gloves as for once I did not have to wash multiple coatings of hair spray off my hands during the day.

A few more comments on the experience from my point of view: 

I know so much has been said in acknowledgement of all the front line workers who have had to wear this style of mask day in and out for months now so I am late to the party in terms of truly understanding their discomfort. But I can say from experience now that those thin little straps are brutal. My ears hurt within half an hour and it was tough to keep the mask up even if I tightened the loops. Not only that but as a high energy photographer I found myself huffing and puffing as I sucked air through the mask. How unexpected that I would find myself longing to put back on my trusty polka dotted cloth mask.

The face screen was also critical, and also somewhat hampering in terms of my being able to work comfortably. As many eye glasses wearers will attest, wearing a mask can cause glasses to fog up. So not only was I dealing with foggy glasses whenever I had them on but the screen was fogging up too. I wanted it off when I looked through the camera's view finder, anyway, so I took it off and put it back on repeatedly using the handy clip on the elastic head band. Unfortunately this made for a very, very bad hair day for me. But that was a small price to pay, along with the other discomforts, for being able to work in way that felt safe for all.

One more client need we were able to accommodate despite safety measures requiring only one subject be in the room at a time was a (virtual) shot of two of the senior leaders together. For this two person shot, during each of their individual sessions we switched to a green screen backdrop and photographed each subject as if they were standing together. Then during retouching we placed them next to each other against an environmental scene photographed elsewhere in one of their facilities, sans people. This technique would also facilitate group shots during these times...something to keep in mind!

Like many people in these uncertain times I do wonder how things will go moving forward. A key thing with photographing people will be ensuring no one shows up sick, not the subject, the photographer, the assistant or anyone else involved. For my part I am assuring assistants that I'd rather they call in sick on a shoot day rather than show up unwell. And we will not be penalizing clients for cancelling due to illness. 

So here's looking forward to this virus getting wiped out, but in the meantime, if you need photography we are back in business, and will continue to be diligent around safe and sanitary working conditions, regardless of bad, face shield hair. Stay well! 


kathryn@hollinrake.com
hollinrake.com