Portrait Photographer

For this shoot the brief was quite open; to come up with imagery for an upcoming CD release for Dublin based cellist and composer, Mary Barnecutt. The images would also be used for future events and promotions. We developed a mood board to flesh out the feel and tone of the final images. We both agreed that a high contrast look would provide a suitable counterfoil for the album’s music.

Black and White

We discussed some different styles and tastes and quickly decided that Black and White was a strong option, with the possibility of a toned final image.

We decided that the shoot would be rooted in a specific location, identifiable as Dublin but without laying it on too thickly –  somewhere rather than nowhere, i.e. not an abstract studio shot.

I narrowed it down to two or three locations, using reference shots to illustrate what the end result might look like and we eventually settled on one spot that offered dramatic backdrops with a lot of flexibility.

After aborting the first shoot due to bad weather, we went ahead and shot for several hours in between squalls and bursts of sunshine. We got some moody clouds, and strong ambient light which we cut these conditions with some fill-in diffuse flash, set off the camera to kill unwanted shadows, brighten the subject, and put some highlights in her eyes.

The final images have a rawness and an immediacy about them that match the unique quirkiness of Mary’s musical style.

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