02. Thinking about location

Exercise 2 : choosing a location

While staying in a Tibetan village in India, a woman asked me for a portrait photograph of herself. The question was of where to make it. A number of obvious locations could be found but there was the question of photographing a woman “in public” for the village she inhabits attracts a lot of outsiders as well as curious neighbours and it seemed that there might be people who could interfere with the process.

outside the village guest house

this seemed to be a good place to photograph someone as the area is private

this early morning shot made about 8 a.m is too early; an hour or two later would be right!

outside in garden by wall with rose flower

to place a woman by a rose with a plain background seemed to make sense

by the lake

the combination of blue and green, tree and spacious water, seemed promising

Offering Goddess artwork

It struck me that a piece of artwork might provide an interesting background

ordinary woman and goddess!

  Another choice of location was in an area devoted to stupa, Buddhist reliquary buildings, where the woman in question might like to be seen owing to the religious connection.

Stupa background

here the soft early morning light might work well with an interesting background

Flagpoles and mountains

A rather subdued background; flash would be required for the face

   My final decision on an appropriate location is an evening shot. It would require the use of flash on the face or figure yet this should not be a problem. The background here would be more subdued and atmospheric.

   

I wanted to leave the final choice therefore to the subject! However, in the event of the portrait, it turned out to be something of a “grab shot” owing to the constraints of time; nevertheless, having done some location scouting, I was able to photograph the subject in one of the locations I had considered beforehand.

Pemadechen in front of mural
This is a kind of mirror image; the lady and the dancing female form symbolising wisdom

   The subject was not told where to stand directly but the paintings were indicated; it was then a matter of moving around to find a suitable viewpoint. There is underlying humour in this image as the icon of the dancing naked female to the subject’s left is symbolic of wisdom, a fact that this woman might well appreciate as a compliment to herself; in fact, it might be enough to make her smile although at the time she must have been unaware of the juxtaposition as was the photographer who was more concerned with form than the implications that content might provide. The snow lions to either side of her head are a further compliment.

Although, the portrait was not as exactly determined as it might have been, a slightly wide angle 35mm lens allowed for a natural look in an unusual yet evocative setting that the photographer had previously considered.

   I wondered as to whether a digital background might have worked in this situation. This would have meant being able to photograph the lady in the relative peace of her garden against a white wall and then inserting an appropriate background that might be a design or a more spacious backdrop. As it happened, the portrait session worked out in a spontaneous manner.