Once I had the location arranged it was obvious a mix Film Noir and classic Hollywood glamour was the way to go so I started researching. Google Images came up with the classic portraits of Dietrich and Harlow while Flick and 500px gave some examples with a modern twist. A quick flick through those images on my iPad over a coffee gave Jen a clear idea of what I had in mind and gave me a last minute refresher of the look I was going for.

As usual, I started simple. Jen in a long black dress with one light. (OK, this image is from slightly later in the set so there are 2 lights in play here). The key light is a grid spot, high camera right aim at Jen’s face. The second is a speedlight tucked away on the floor to camera left to thrown a bit of light on the black dress and pick Jen off the dark background.

A quick wardrobe change while I span the lights 90 degrees resulted in this. Hard, gridded light from an Elinchrom Quadra on Jen again from high camera left and some low fill to add some details to her legs from a speedlight camera right. Then to create the spotlight effect on the red velvet above her, another gridded Quadra firing straight ahead form high above camera.

Another wardrobe and location change resulted in this image. Moving away from the hard, Hollywood glamour lighting to my Deep Octa softbox in beauty dish mode. It’s positioned camera right and feathered off the background to keep the wallpaper dark and make it match Jen’s hat and the stripes in the jacket. There’s a speedlight getting in on the action again – low camera left, behind the chair adding a little kick to separate the dark suit from the background.

When presented with the chance to shoot in a luxury screening room you take it, even if it means going off the plan and shooting something a bit more lifestyle. Jen’s bottomless suitcase had something suitable so we set up this shot. On gridded Quadra lighting Jen and a second, added after a few tests, to light the seats further along the row.

On the way in to the  screening room we walked down this corridor and I noticed the spot lights raking down the stripped, grey wallpaper.  I used the gridded Quadra again here, dialled down as low as it would go so as not to over power the lights and gelled CTO to match the colour temperature.

I’ve also put together a behind the scenes video for those who want to see a bit more. This is my first foray into video and Final Cut Pro X editing so I’d love to hear what you think.

Enjoy the rest of the images in the slideshow below (as always, hit the bottom right icon for some full screen action).

Massive thanks to Jen Morgan, Daniel Barrett and Yvette Singer at The Showcase Cinema de Lux in Bristol.

Jaguar XJ | Behind the Scenes from Richie Thomassen on Vimeo.

This is great for photographers.

There was a time when our images were only seen by the people we knew and saw on a regular basis or, if we were lucky, they’d be printed in a magazine. But now, we can get our work out there to millions of pairs of eyes. People we will never meet can now see and give us feedback on our images, they can follow us or become our friend and before you know it you have an army of fans hanging on your every word. Just look at Chase Jarvis, Joe McNally and Zack Arias to see just what can be achieved

Photo: Duane Kerzic

Whilst standing on the public platform in New York’s Penn Station, taking pictures of trains to enter Amtrak’s “Picture Our Trains” photography competition, photographer Duane Kerzic was arrested by Amtrak’s own security guards and charged with trespassing and refusing to delete his images.

Trespassing? In a public place? Really? And why should Duane delete his photographs?  If photography is illegal, why ask him to delete evidence? If it isn’t, what right do they have to insist he formats his card?

US TV show “The Colbert Report” duly takes the mickey