GQ Magazine
Creative Director: Fred Woodward
Director of Photography: Dora Somosi
Photographer: Ture Lillegraven
Heidi: Was it hard to control the roosters? Did your rent those?
Ture: As for the roosters..it was tricky to control them. I rented them and they came with two animal wranglers. They did their best to keep them in a controlled area for me…but they still moved around and added an element of spontaneity which I like. While shooting in his actual truck, I would place them in certain places…then they would roam from there. For me this really makes things interesting and allows the subject to react to their actions and my direction…and catch those moments that happen between the moments. It was a blast.
15 Comments
I have rented roosters and chickens several times…they can sure make a mess in your studio!
not trying to be cranky, but this looks like it was shot on a point and shoot….
maybe that was the creative brief… and a great deal of recent German photography has the deadpan factor near infinity….
Vax: It’s editorial… it can look like anything! I don’t know that Rembrandt lighting would have made this particular page any better. For me it’s the layout that makes me think twice. But that aside, the visual gesture of that cleaver in his teeth (along with the reflection that makes the subject look demonic) is what makes it work for me, and the color and light seems appropriate enough toward that end. Like I said…. it’s editorial.
the reflection and teeth/knife makes the shot…. barely….
yes, I know it can be anything….
I am tired of the cheap-ass-look, but all things must pass….
or maybe the point-n-shoot-look is a way of commenting on the near-zero editorial budges these days….
I have to agree…maybe I’m just missing something here, or maybe I’m not hip enough to appreciate it.
Reality will always be in style.
Cleaver-held-in-teeth is good.
I can’t wait for the crappy, flash-on-camera point-and-shoot look to go out of style.
Love the concept and shot but the lighting is so harsh yuck. Hate the flash in camera thing.
i remember the chickens i shot ..one was stuffed and had maggots and the other time it was a 105 out and we had to shoot him on a black top road ..well he had a heat stroke…welcome to the chicken club ture!
So this is creative? I wonder how many readers (not photographers) also thought that.
Ture is great…love this.
yup , rad ! i love trendyness !
The comment about the deadpan, point & shoot, on camera flash “look” being a comment on the dreadful editorial budgets is well considered. No need to hire a professional photographer these days for “editorial” as anything goes..and anything is accepted. Editorial is anything that can be shot in a few minutes and as soon forgotten. Next.
Guys. Are y’all not noticing where the shadows are? There are at least 2 lights going on here. Look at his knee. The shadow is made from his arm. There’s a big light off to our right. I mean duh. Look at how bright that cleaver is. And that chicken …way down in the bottom of the frame, where no direct flash would do that much damage, is a tad on the over exposed side. Whereas the rest of him, not including his hands, albeit bright, is just well lit. And I saw “well” in the “Well! That’s a lotta light thrown around in that photo” way.
I’d be willing to bet that with so so many unpredictable factors, and by factors I mean live Chickens, there was probably some beautifully lit images, but didn’t quite have the visceral awesomeness of this guy’s stare.
As photographers, It’s easy to pick on lighting after the fact, but we gotta remind ourselves that the greater audience doesn’t care about lighting. They only care about a picture when its interesting or it grabs their attention.
Seriously, why else do people go crazy for lol cats? They’re not “good” pictures, but lol cats are undeniably captivating.
And I think this picture is super captivating. It makes me want to read the article. And it’s not necessarily captivating because of it’s lighting — I think the intense lighting helps add an intensity to the mood — but it’s because of the props, the idea, that guys’s chicken leg boots, and of course, his intense stare.
graphic and clever color palette. Its an effective image.
Comments are closed for this article!