Portrait

Behind the photo shoot: Tracie Thoms, film and stage actress

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In late April, I photographed actress and singer Tracie Thoms, who's probably best known for her work in Rent, Cold Case, and The Devil Wears Prada.

Tracie was preparing for a gala for her alma mater, the Baltimore School for the Arts (the performing arts high school which inspired the movie Step Up), and the school kindly allowed us our photo shoot in their auditorium prior to her rehearsal. Part of the high school was converted from a grand old hotel from the turn of the century, and the auditorium was located in a beautiful old ballroom with gorgeous architectural details.

In the below images prior to the shoot, Tracie is touching up her make-up. In college, she acquired the nickname of "Tink Tink" for her ability to quickly and flawlessly attach her false eyelashes, and she still knows her way around a make-up brush.

We began by shooting on stage, using strobes and reflectors to create the warm glow and illuminate the highlights of her dark hair from the blackness of the stage.

Above, Tracie is chatting with her former musical theater teacher, Becky Mossing, while I adjust my lighting to my satisfaction. Milk crates are a photographer's best friend - you can use them to carry gear, to stand on if you're short like me, and of course, as seating for your clients. I feel like I should write a post just about the distinguished behinds that have sat on my various milk crates.

 

After shooting on stage, I moved Tracie into the audience seating area, and backlit her curls. We multi-tasked by having her sing with her former teacher, to prepare for the following day's gala.

Periodically, students would come by the auditorium in order to meet Tracie, and we'd take a moment from the shoot in order for her to say hello and pose for a few photographs. I couldn't resist this girl's hair - she and Tracie excitedly admired each other's hairstyles while they waited for another student to line them up for a photo.

After finishing up our shoot, I shot for a few minutes while Tracie rehearsed for the following day's gala with Becky and pianist Michael Sheppard. After enjoying the private concert, I quietly packed up, content with the day's events.

 

Tango Noir shoot

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In June, I partnered with Arlington's Orange Hanger Boutique and The Regent Theatre to create a fashion-based editorial shoot based on the Argentine Tango, specifically the Tango Nuevo movement (new Tango) and film noir. It was inspired by music by the amazing Gotan Project. The goal: to work with other Arlington businesses to create dramatic, sexy, and beautiful editorial work, and to pull from my own dance background to create photography that represents the movement of dance and the drama of film noir. This Milonga de amor video with a Gotan Project soundtrack was distributed to everyone participating in the shoot to help them gain a feel for the mood we were going to create at the Regent Theatre.

Emerson faculty member C.E. Courtney helped hugely with the lighting design and also documented the behind-the-scenes action.

Here I am teaching Manuel, one of our models (and an MIT graduate), how to do the Argentine Tango hold, instructing as to how close the faces of partners should lean together - reeeeally close. The beginning of the shoot involved having the models gain familiarity with both the dance and the embrace required to convey the emotion of the tango. I did not expect the models, most of whom are not dancers, to get the technique exactly right, but to approximate the mood and the hold, which they did splendidly. Image by C.E. Courtney.

 

Hair and makeup was by Jayne Riot and Maura Traniello of Scarlet Artist Management. Here's our model Elizabeth (another MIT graduate) getting pin-curled. Image by C.E. Courtney. As some of the five models waited for hair and make-up, others began getting into wardrobe and were subject to lighting tests by my assistant, Elizabeth M.

We began with portraits of the men, as the women finished with hair and make-up.

And as Elizabeth came out of make-up, the gentlemen were happy to bring her into the picture.

Introducing Elizabeth to some tango steps, image courtesy of C.E. Courtney.

And then the dance began.

 

And then they all danced together.

And then it was time, as they say, to powder the nose.

Many thanks to all the models: Elizabeth O, Greg, Jenn, Manuel, and Zach - you were all a blast to work with, beautiful inside and out. Thank you to Leland and Ryan from the Regent, and Natalie from the Orange Hanger - you made everything gorgeous! Huge thanks to C.E. and Elizabeth M for all your assistance lighting everything indoors, and schlepping everything in from the outdoors despite the pouring rain. I owe ya.

Ladies Rock Camp

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I had the great pleasure of photographing the bands of Boston's Ladies Rock Camp in Jamaica Plain on May 20th. The camp provides an opportunity for women who are 19 and older to let loose and learn to play rock together with similarly strong and awesome women. Ladies learn and/or practice bass, guitar, drums, vocals, or keyboard, form a band, and at the end of the experience, play live at TT the Bears in Central Square, Cambridge. The participants also take a variety of workshops relating to being a lady rocker - I happened to observe an inspiring workshop by Model Mugging Self-Defense right after I photographed the bands. Super cool! It was amazing walking into the building in which the camp was housed - you could feel the vibration of the drums throbbing up through your feet, and the excited "Yows!" and cheers of the participants charged everyone with a wonderfully contagious energy! I want to join next year (and I grew up playing classical piano and viola) - what an incredible group of women, what a great experience.

Here are a few of the bands I photographed.

 

Steampunk: Take two

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Lots of requests for more Steampunk photographs from the Watch City Festival aka Steampunk Festival in Waltham, MA! Here they are. Steampunkers, please keep in touch via my blog and via www.facebook.com/sharonajacobsphotography. I had so many amazing people who were photographed - thank you all for being so wonderfully interesting to photograph.

Steampunk Festival, Waltham, MA: corsets, goggles, and gorgeousness

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I was recently asked how I wanted to spend my Mother's Day - my answer: photograph portraits of amazingly costumed people at Waltham's Steampunk Festival. Assisted by the author Jon Papernick and my family (it was Mother's Day, after all), I had the most amazing time photographing some incredible faces and outfits. Enjoy the gallery, and thank you to everyone who participated!

 

Portraits of a dancer

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Audrey is a dream to work with as a photographer. As a modern dancer and a dance therapist, she is lovely, inside and out. We worked together both outdoors and in the studio, playing with lights and modifiers, moods and movement.

Olmstead's Paine + novelist + kid + portraits = one glorious day in Waltham, MA

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Yesterday was an insanely beautiful day in the Boston area - warm, sunny, mid-seventies with a hint of breeze blowing in the smell of Spring! To take advantage of this very odd, but lovely Boston spring weather, I grabbed my kid, home for Spring vacation,  and drove to Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate, where I met up with fiction writer Jon Papernick in his hometown of Waltham, MA.

 

Stonehurst was designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson and visionary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and it was completed in 1886 on behalf of Robert Treat Paine and Lydia Lyman Paine.

It is full of cavernous rooms full of beautiful mahogany carvings, eight-foot tall portraits of great detail, and furniture that looks as though the moment you'd turn around would surreptitiously slither away.

Of course Jon felt right at home among rooms full of books, and began chatting away with the caretaker as I clicked away, occasionally pulling a face and making me chuckle behind the camera.

 

Call me crazy, but when I visit old estates, I'm invariably curious about the bathrooms that were used back then. When I used to work at the George Eastman House, Mr. Eastman's bathroom hadn't been fully renovated for visitors, but as staff, we got to peek in. Here, my curiosity was assuaged by viewing an exquisite bathroom with a metal-lined tub with a carved wooden exterior.

Wandering the grounds and exploring the house, camera in hand, was the perfect way to enjoy the day.