Kevin Thom - Hamilton, Toronto, Ontario Photographer

For me, the ability to control depth of field–the area that’s in focus–has been essential. It’s a major tool in my toolbox when I go about isolating a subject in the frame. Some of the other tools include negative space, color, and contrast, both visual and thematic. Depth of field is my favorite though. That’s why I’ve invested in lenses that give me the widest possible range of aperture to work with, and spent a lot of time learning how to control it. The latest toy is this Hartblei 65mm f3.5 Super-Rotator that I’ve talked about a lot lately. I bought it because I knew that I could use it to create very unusual depth of field effects, but when it finally arrived from the Czech Republic, I had no idea how it worked.

Before I start using a new tool on clients, I normally do some experimentation to get a handle on its operation. Usually, this involves taking pictures of inanimate objects and doing self-portraits before actually showing anyone the results.

The photo above is one of those experiments that I did with the Hartblei. It took a lot of fiddling under pressure, because this kid was biking around like a maniac, and I really wanted to capture him in front of the car before he gave up the game and went to do something else. With the Hartblei’s nearly infinite combination of tilts, shifts and rotations, it did take a few tries to get this effect predictably. Fortunately, on the kid’s last pass, I got the shot. The area in focus is thrown diagonally from the foreground to the background, with other areas rendered in a very pleasant bokeh, which is just a fancy way of saying “out of focus.”

Getting this shot of the Flatiron Building in Manhattan was a little easier, because I had all the time in the world to mess around with the lens to get the right areas in focus.

After a great deal of experimentation and failed attempts, I finally felt ready to use this lens with a client, in the studio. The client is a musician, who is releasing an album in the next month or two. We needed to shoot some portraits to use in the CD liner notes. My goal with this particular shoot was to get a kind of low-contrast feel which I felt matched the melancholy mood of his music, as well as the cover art for the CD. I envisioned everything being a sort of monotone beige, with the clarity of his eyes being the most outstanding features of the image. The eyes would already be isolated because of color, but isolating them further with focus and shallow depth of field really adds a lot to the laid-back mood, I think.

It was pretty easy to accomplish this with the 50mm f1.2 lens when he was more or less face-front to the camera. The area of focus is at a constant distance from the back of the camera, producing a very traditional shallow depth of field effect.

However, he had a great profile, and I wanted to be able to shoot this angle without losing the focus that fell mainly on the eyes and not elsewhere. This is where the Hartblei really came in handy.

By bending the lens so that it threw the area of focus across the front of his face, even though I was facing the side of his face, I was able to keep his eyes isolated in focus, while the rest of him softly blended away.

I remember sitting with a friend years ago, marveling at a book of Karsh’s portraiture, admiring his masterful control of depth of field. At that time, I wondered how he achieved this effect. Now I know it’s because he was using a massive 8×10 view camera with bellows that allowed him to similarly throw focus onto whichever plane he wished. Those cameras were cumbersome and difficult to adjust. These days, with small SLR cameras, it’s possible to get similar results, but in a more spontaneous and casual fashion. I’m looking forward to using this new trick more often in the future.

Promoting a show can seem a bit like black magic. If you’ve never done it before, it can be mysterious and frustrating. You can put up the greatest production on the planet, but if there’s nobody in the audience to see it, it can all feel a bit pointless. However, there are some proven tricks to getting people to pay attention to what you’re doing. One of those tricks is to invest in promotional photos for your show. I talked to some of my previous clients to find out what they know about using photos to promote their shows.

Lauren Ash and Adam Cawley are Toronto’s sexiest improv couple. We shot some photos that capture their smoldering chemistry to promote Hot Lawyer, their hilarious improv show.

Hot Lawyer has gone on to headline festivals in Toronto, New York and Chicago. Ash says great promo photos are a huge asset to a group. “They’ve gotten us a lot of attention, not only from potential audience members but also from improv festival producers and reporters,” she says. “The photos alone get people interested in what we’re all about. They’re memorable and eye-catching and make people want to learn more about us.”

Strong photos can also give you a step up on the competition. “In a market that is saturated with so many different groups, it is imperative that you stand out,” she says. “The promo pic is really the best way to do that.”

Standing out from the crowd and getting attention are really what it’s all about. When I work with artists, I focus on latching on to strong emotions and hot-button ideas. Once you’ve visually tapped into these very powerful forces, the task of getting bums in seats becomes much easier. When comedian and producer Deb Robinson came to me a couple of years ago to shoot a photo to promote her show “Wet and Sticky,” we came up with an image of Deb as a beauty queen, “enjoying” some cereal. Robinson’s emotional commitment to the photo is what makes it leap off the page and grab the viewer’s attention. Since posting it in my online portfolio, that photo has accumulated over 130,000 views.

“Originally Darryl and I were going change the look of the poster every show, but after the overwhelming response to the picture, we had to keep it,” says Robinson. “It represents the show so perfectly. Every single person has a strong reaction towards that Froot Loops photo. They either love it or they are deeply offended, which is great because it means people are talking about the event.”

All of this talk and buzz is a very good thing for a performer. Comedian and actor Aaron Merke and I have worked together a few times to shoot photos that generate buzz.

Even while we were shooting these photos, it was hard not to laugh. Merke has parlayed that kind of reaction into spots on MuchMusic and The Comedy Network. He says a great promo shot instantly links your message and your audience.  “You send a statement in seconds and gets people talking about you and your project,” he says.

Merke says a compelling photo makes people ask, “Who is this?” “What do they want?” and “Do I want to be involved?”

“Also I like to be semi-nude any chance I get, which usually gets people talking as well,” adds Merke.

From there, it’s only a short step to media coverage. “A good photo is a key piece to getting media coverage, because people respond immediately to images,” says Laura Hollick. Hollick leads workshops that teach artists how to get the media’s attention. Because Hollick is an artist and also has her own weekly radio show featuring artists, she knows the media business from both sides of the microphone. Her own art has been featured in dozens of publications, as well as on a Bravo TV documentary about her work. Hollick and I have collaborated many times to create evocative images that promote various aspects of her art and her business.

“There are studies that show articles with pictures get read more than articles without,” says Hollick. “Having a great photo can mean the difference between being on the cover of a magazine or just being listed in the events section.  Which one do you think will get more attention?”

Media-savvy comedian Shelley Marshall knows the answer to that question. We shot a photo that she uses to promote Mother of the Pride, her one-woman show about having two gay children.

“Media loves a great photo. Half the work is done for them with a great photo,” she says. “A good picture will get you noticed. A great picture will get you exposure.”

“Photos are far more important than most think. They are part of the branding, the message, the details,” says Marshall. “So much comes along with a great photo: credibility, creativity and much more.”

Marshall says hiring a professional photographer is a worthwhile investment. “You get what you pay for is absolutely true. A credible photographer is more apt to get published opposed to an amateur photo shoot. It also confirms a professional attitude,” she explains. “If you are using the very best photographer, you are showing up-front the value of the production. It can very much be the ‘wow’ factor a show or performer needs to get noticed.”

Colette Kendall is no stranger to the “wow” factor. She has been a long-time believer in using promotional photography to draw attention to her shows. We’ve worked together a number of times over the last few years to create photos for The Tippi Seagram Show and The Cock Whisperer. Kendall’s shows were featured 24 times in publications like The Globe and Mail, The Edmonton Sun and Edmonton Journal, The Winnipeg Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Mirror, The Georgia Straight, Victoria News and many others. Kendall left a trail of half a dozen cover stories as she crisscrossed Canada on the Fringe circuit.

“A fab promo photo lets you get that all-important foot in the door,” says Kendall. “Back it up with a great show and before you know it, you and the press are smoking cigarettes and basking in the afterglow.”

That “afterglow” keeps you at your audience’s “top of mind,” providing them a memorable hook on which to hang your name. This has worked well for Liz McEachern. We shot a photo to promote her one-woman show, How Sweet It Is.

“All I have to do is put my arm in the air and say ‘I’m the girl eating the M&M’s’ and people instantly remember the show,” says McEachern. “People remembered the poster of the show a year later.”

The emotional power of a great photo can give your show a gravitational pull. “Every time I handed out a flyer people would laugh at the photo and ask me what the show was all about,” says McEachern. “It made people want to see the show.”