I’m putting together a lesson in shot variety for my classes. I thought it would be good to look at this set of pictures I made of Rwanda’s Aline Ndacyayisenga.
This set of pictures was going to be for Ervin Ang’s story about Olympic hopefuls.
I had about 45 minutes to work on the pictures in a very dark and empty gym.
As the pictures were going to be offered for a print product, my goals were to get a wide variety of shot sizes(from close-ups to wide shots). I’m also thinking of leaving black spaces for things like a headline to be placed on the image.
I’ll try to organise the images as they were shot chronologically.
Moving around a scene
There are always multiple ways to shoot something. If I have the luxury of time, I try not to assume that I have a great angle until I’ve tried them all.
The Close-up
I find close-ups and wide shots to be the first things I neglect to shoot when I get lazy.
I’m glad I wasn’t on this occasion. The extreme shot size allowed us to see the streams of sweat and join in her exhaustion.
Portraits
For me, a portrait session allows me to create a heightened, dramatic image in a controlled strobe-lit environment.
This offers something that the more straight-up documentary shots don’t.