Imagination At A Circus Wake

“Motion with Emotion” was the topic for the ‘Shootout’ section of the national photography magazine, “The Pro Review”. I was asked to partake with my own interpretation of its monthly article. Four photographers were chosen for their own styles. No instructions, no directions given…just the topic. My ideas started flowing immediately.

People, special effects, emotion… Great, how about a circus wake for a clown, seen through the eyes of a child? I know it’s probably not the first thing that would come to mind for most, but I thought that a truly bittersweet situation would unfold, by having the children seeing the spirit of the deceased clown (we’ll call him Bobbo), smiling, going to a fun place, while all the “adult” friends of the clown were saddened and grieving for his passing.

The selection process for my talent went smoothly, since they were all actors and actresses who I worked with previously, except for the twin boy gymnasts, who were the sons of the front half of the lady/horse costume. I coached them all concerning their levels of grieving and glee as to how they should interact with each other. The acrobat boys had to look at, and wave to an imaginary point as Bobbo was rising. Everyone followed my direction, adding his or her own nuances perfectly. I wanted them to pour themselves into their role and act out.

I did the shoot in two parts. The overall scene was with the entire cast, using a balance of strobe and incandescent light at a slow shutter speed. This let the light from the two torchieres burn in which cast an overall warmth throughout my scene. A separate spotlight was directed at the acrobat boys, to help show they were the only ones who could see Bobbo and were basking in the clowns spirit’s light.

The second part of the shoot was the clown ascending, which again had a balance of strobe and incandescent, in a different set up. Bobbo needed to sit up slowly from the casket and then hold still once his end point was reached during the first open lens exposure. A number of varied exposures were made to achieve the density of light I wanted. The second movement that I needed from Bobbo was to stand up slowly from a squat to standing position, smiling and waving down to the boys. While he was doing that, I was moving my camera, making space for him filling the frame with his streaking movement and final set position. Bobbo’s rising and the movement of my camera had to be completely synchronized. I then combined the best of all three images electronically.

Even though Photoshop is such a powerful tool, I still like to get what is possible (and best obtained) in camera. I believe that a human’s emotion can never be achieved by Photoshop.