Womanwise 06

05/09/09 23:21 Filed in: Technique

Crystal Felix was a pleasant surprise.
Somewhere along the line, nobody bothered to tell me that the shy actress of Yao Ramesar’s sequel to his short film Sistagod was um, melanin challenged.
Not that there’s gear available to manage extremes of skintone, but as she walked out of the house in Malabar, every tiny notion I had for the photos got summarily dumped. Nothing I was thinking of while talking to her on the phone would be right for such a unique presence.

Crystal wasn’t interested in photos reflecting her work on the film. She had a new single in release and wanted that to be reflected in the image. While the conscious reggae number hammered in the background and Crystal pointedly swung around in the sound engineer’s chair, I peeked into the audio booth, a small room covered with a rich burgundy carpeting.

Here was contrast that might give me a chance to pump the singer’s milk white skin and dazzling blond dreadlocks. Would it be possible to bring some of Crystal’s energy to the shot by asking her to sing along to the track?
Crystal rose to the occasion and I trailed along in her wake, illuminating the scene with two strobes with umbrellas, one gelled with a full CTO to put a splash of warmth to the subject’s hair and shoulders.
On the way home from the session another notion struck me for a photo and if Crystal’s game to try it, I might shoot it for her CD single. We’ll see.

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