Fred Fraser Commercial Photographer

This is the last of the crazy room photos, and probably the most expensive too.

My daughter Aja was at the shoot helping out (actually, Aja did a lot of the hot gluing on all three sets – thanks Aja!), she observed that weeks of preparation culminated in about 30 minutes of shooting. I’m ok with that though – sometimes the preparation is as much fun as the shooting and final image(s). I love my job!

We worked through three scenarios for posing and positioning with our fabulous model Sherri and I eliminated one, but really can’t make up my mind on the last two, so here’s both:

I have a vintage dinette set for sale …

I am in the process of reassembling my book and decided to include a couple of images from a shoot I did almost two years ago. I have always liked this shot and the story about how it came into being adds value to the image for me.

The shot was for a story in BC Business Magazine about a private detective. The detective was happy to have his portrait shot as long as in the final image you couldn’t see his face – or any other identifying features. He was also reluctant to show his working environment or any of his specialized equipment – anything that might give him away to potential surveillance targets in the future. He also wanted to avoid all the usual visual clichés that surround private detectives.

Needless to say, making a portrait of someone that excludes everything traditionally considered to be crucial elements of portraiture was a bit of a challenge. My first attempt – some silhouettes against the daytime skyline of downtown from inside his spy car – was so dull I asked to reshoot. The shot below was the result of the second session and satisfied all the requirements the art director at the magazine had as well as keeping the subject happy. Good fun actually (after the fact …).

And so with this shoot trolling alleys comes to an end. This was the last of the Gillian-and-the-found-chairs-in-alleys photo sessions, and I think one of the most fruitful. If you missed them, the other shoots are here and here.

I had briefly considered continuing the theme with found mattresses, but most of the mattresses I came across on scouting missions contained ecosystems robust enough to make them eligible for provincial park status. In consideration of Gillians welfare I decided to come up with another idea.

More images here.