Theatre Photography, Mike Kwasniak

MIKE KWASNIAK ARPS

Irecorded my first images in a professional theatre in 1983. The Wolsey (in Ipswich) was opening a production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and needed some pictures of the understudies in action, so that at matinees, when they took over the main roles, the front of house pictures would mirror what the audiences would see on stage. The main cast had already been photographed, and there was no budget. It went well, and the following year I not only took over as house photographer, but also took a full-time job in their marketing department.

There’s never enough light on stage, and I think every theatre photographer in the world has a reputation for complaining about light levels! In 1983 the fastest film you could buy was rated at just 400 iso. You could up-rate and push-process to 800 iso, but the results were very grainy.

No surprise when I tell you that I was a very early adopter of digital. Suddenly the walls of monochrome prints front of house were replaced with glowing colours, and I had the luxury of viewing images immediately after shooting them. The availability of high iso shooting became practical and in 2012 I was able to shoot the Dr Who adventure, ‘Crash of the Elysium’ in the lowest light levels imaginable, at 25,600 iso, creating images that were far less noisy than the push-processed images of the ’90’s.

I work with 2 Canon 5D Mk IIIs, one with a 24-70 f2.8 lens, the other with a 70-200 f2.8. For when light levels become really challenging, I also carry a 50mm f1.2 and a 24mm f1.2. The use of flash is, of course, forbidden. There’s never time to change lenses during a dress rehearsal, so I ‘wear’ two cameras most of the time, and as there’s no light in the auditorium, it’s essential to know your camera insideout so that, for example, moving from aperture priority to manual exposure can be achieved without lowering the camera.

After more than 30 years it remains a thrilling experience that relies heavily on instinct - and every show is a one-shot, seat-of-your-pants ride with no opportunities for retakes. No theatre ever restaged a dress rehearsal for a photographer!

Forward planning is impossible as no matter how well known a play might be, you never know how a clever director will interpret it. I think a good theatre photographer learns to pre-empt the moment, and knows

how to take advantage of punctuation (the brief moment when an actors mouth isn’t moving). Once a dress rehearsal is up and running there’s no time to worry about anything, and you need to watch everything through the viewfinder or risk missing important events. I’m expected to be as inconspicuous as possible, but moving around the auditorium and dashing between rows is essential. Only once have I created my own drama - climbing between rows in a raked auditorium I caught the back of a seat with the toe of my shoe and performed a perfect (noisy) forward somersault in to the row below!

Not all venues are comfortable permanent auditoriums, and I’ve included a few images from an Eastern Angles Theatre Company show called ‘Ragnarok’, which was performed in a huge concrete structure designed for testing jet engines on the site of USAF Bentwaters in Suffolk. Cold, creepy and cavernous, it provided some of the best photo opportunities of my life.

Outside of theatre, fifteen years ago I formed Suffolk Mac User Group, here in Ipswich - a busy, friendly self-help group for Apple computer users (many of them photographers). We have around 120 members and if you’d like to learn more, do visit www.suffolkmug.co.uk

FIND OUT MORE

mikekwasniak.co.uk

Look out for Mike’s photography talk organised by the Western Region in collaboration with the Creative Eye Group on 13th June 2021