Inspiration Nation – Larry Fink
It’s not much of an understatement to say that discovering the photography of Larry Fink caused a paradigm shift in my whole approach to party photography. Specifically the evening section, the dancing, the party. Cutting his teeth on high society débutante balls, Larry Fink went onto shoot for Vanity Fair as their official ‘interpretive’ photographer. He would photograph parties with an on-camera flash but on a tilted L-bracket to mix silky light with stark angular shadows, ramping up the drama. Often creating images where the subjects are the only things lit inside the frame so they appear to be isolated from the event itself, floating inside a kind of rich velvety darkness focusing the viewer on the dynamics within the shot.
Before coming across Larry Fink’s work I would shoot exclusively–almost militantly–with available light. This of course could result in some really beautiful photos but it also completely relied on there being pools of photogenic ambient light. And it also required your subjects to walk, or dance, inside them. If something interesting happened away from that, or if the dancefloor was just badly lit, you’d lose moments to a flat murky pockets of dim light. Having seen Larry’s work I realised I could be proactive as well as reactive–actively controlling and shaping the mood and light and feel of those shots.
Of course, you do have to be aware of who you’re shooting for and what you’re shooting. If you are Larry Fink shooting celebrity galas the celebrities are almost always going to be the main point of the photo. People want to see their personalities and they want to see how they interact with other celebrities. Pretty much no one is looking at those photos for the backdrop or the table settings. But with weddings the bride (and occasionally the groom) may well have put in a lot of time and effort into the location, the set dressing, decor and colour palette. So over time I modified my flash to be a little less full fat Fink but keep the punchy chiarosuro effect.
Larry Fink Photography:
Nick Tucker Photography:
