[Exhibition] Las Semillas de El Pimiento Verdi ...

Buono Estente,

I also posted a selection of these over in the Performing Arts section but these are perhaps more portraiture/candids than outright Performing Arts, despite their roots ...

Recently, I've been privileged to photograph in the rehearsals of a new show by an important director here in Spain, Albert Boadella. The show is called El Pimiento Verdi (a Spanish play on words with a restaurant called El Pimiento Verde [The Green Pepper] and Verdi's bicentennial) and is a 'operatic duel' between Don Guiseppe and Herr Wagner, also in his bicentenary year. The idea was to photograph the performers and the rehearsals, and what happens therein, rather than to photograph the finished show in an unfinished and ultimately less visually exciting form ... therefore the photographs are generally more portraits/candids and photographs of moments, scenes being performed for the first time, or reactions to said scenes ...

44 (we originally intended to choose 30 ... failed, got to 37 and then added some more back in for editorial reasons) of my photographs from the rehearsals are now exhibited alongside the show, and I'm going to make a selection of eight so as to not clearly flout POTN rules ... I'm also posting a different set for the different forum.

Director, Albert Boadella ...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86765​96728/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86754​91481/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86765​96546/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86754​90769/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86754​92445/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86765​83710/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86765​93834/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86765​91100/

WOW I really like the B&W conversions and processing. I still shoot B&W film because I hate my conversions.

Great Job!

These are all great images. I think your conversions are wonderful. First three are my favorites.

Excellent B&W conversions on these

K Soze wrote in post #15865526
WOW I really like the B&W conversions and processing. I still shoot B&W film because I hate my conversions.

Great Job!

Thanks! I've never really tried to emulate film with my conversions, I think that will always lead to you being dissatisfied with the outcome as it won't ever recreate film. I like high contrast, but processed these for the skin tones mainly, with other highlights a secondary priority and the shadows do what they like ...

Also, jealous of the MF kit ... I sold mine at the end of University. Haven't used any 35mm in a while either ...

stickman513 wrote in post #15865958
These are all great images. I think your conversions are wonderful. First three are my favorites.

Thanks!

Checking which were the first three made me realise that I'm that guy who posts the same image twice with two different captions, one of which is clearly erroneous. This has now been corrected ... hopefully you'll like the new number 4 as well!

SoCalTiger wrote in post #15866343
Excellent B&W conversions on these

Thanks. After the first session, it was clear that Black and White was the way to go with this project (the rehearsal room itself is essentially either black or white, plus the actors in regular clothes with mostly wooden or metal place-holder props) but as I shot RAW, these are still conversions, even if they were intended to be Black and White images ...

New image number 4 ... Luis Alvarez.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86754​90769/

I really like these. Great work.

tomholman wrote in post #15866708
I really like these. Great work.

Thanks Tom, pleased that you like them too!

The new number 4 is a fantastic addition to the set. Just checked your website and you have many wonderful images. You have captured so many wonderful moments in time and again, your B/W conversions are spot on.

Seriously great stuff IMO here. As stickman said above, you have captured so many wonderful moments in time. But captured them, really, really well. Look forward to seeing more!

Sorry, I've been away for a few days, shooting some landscapes this time, but just for my own enjoyment ...

stickman513 wrote in post #15888115
The new number 4 is a fantastic addition to the set. Just checked your website and you have many wonderful images. You have captured so many wonderful moments in time and again, your B/W conversions are spot on.

Thanks for popping back and commenting again, and for taking the time to look at my website, much appreciated! I've been really pleased throughout this project, and the opportunity to work with such professional actors who make capturing candids very easy by being relaxed and accustomed to cameras is very nice ... but they were also very fun as well as professional, and I hope that something of how much they all seemed to enjoy the production is transmitted in the photos.

gazmorton2000 wrote in post #15889286
Seriously great stuff IMO here. As stickman said above, you have captured so many wonderful moments in time. But captured them, really, really well. Look forward to seeing more!

Thank you! I'm looking forward to producing more!

Sometimes with theatre photography, I feel like I haven't done that much because the show looked great and I merely photographed it ... with this it was nice to feel like I was doing a bit more, selecting the moments and capturing them - I know that is what happens with performance photography as well, but I got more of a sense of it with this project, and that was really nice to have ...