Jesse-Leigh Elford

21. Sep, 2011 Categories: Photographers by Admin 39 Comments

Hey Jesse, awesome work on your website!

You’re clearly a talented and meticulous person and this shows in your work. Much of the work echoes and often even shadows that found on the fashion and beauty pages of European magazines. Is this your inspiration? Do you look to “the continent” for ways to push yourself and expand your creativity? Where else or who else do you look to?

Thank you, and yes, I always have my eye cast abroad and use it as a way of measuring my own work to some degree. I spend a lot of time online: looking at favourite designers’ fashion shows, magazine editorials published on blogs, updates on photographer portfolios, blog write-ups on new talent and of course following ‘campaign season’ when brands release their new campaigns. It is a lot of information and I don’t have the best of memories when it comes to these details but I’m lucky enough to have my personal little external hard drive – Juanel – who has the memory of an elephant and recalls reference for me at the drop of a hat!

Overall I think the internet has just blown this whole game open. There is quite a big rift – in my opinion at least – between the old school photographers and the young guns in terms of online presence and active interaction with the online community. My online activity plays a big role in my process, because I get a lot of inspiration from my peers – there is just so much talent out there, more visible than ever, and that definitely motivates the competitive streak in me. It is also a very empowering tool and I’ve tried to use it to my advantage: the very first tests I shot post-hiatus, before I signed with Infidels, I sent to fashion blogs and monitored the response. It’s quite a powerful platform to get your work out there, and I’m really grateful for how the online community has received and supported me.
Then the very obvious advantage is being able to follow international work in fashion, photography, set design, make-up, hair and styling – not only on “the continent” but the amazing work that is coming out of Asia. As a result I have a long list of artists I am dying to work with that inspire me a lot. It is also thanks to this platform that we’ve been able to connect online, so I have a bunch of “dates” set up with these inspirational artists when I finally travel.
There are many, many contemporary photographers that inspire me. There aren’t big enough words to describe my ‘fanship’ of the duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Then I also adore the work of Bruno Dayan, Camilla Akrans, Steven Klein, Greg Kadel, Solve Sundsbo, Mario Sorrenti, and Steven Meisel. The legends, of course, are also a great influence: Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton and Richard Avedon.

Another avenue I explore for inspiration is cinema. I’m a cinema fanatic and hope to pursue a directing or cinematography career too one day. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is one of my creative heroes – his flair for natural light, effortless movement and subtle composition turns me into a little fanatical teenager. I once sent him an email and when he personally responded I was literally glowing for days! And if I am ever to meet Martin Scorsese in person then I would be cool on the outside but shaking in boots on the inside, haha!

Do you have a favourite genre or style to photograph?

I have always appreciated black and white nudes. The naked body is so beautiful to light as there are no distractions like garments or accessories and the eye can just follow the journey provided by the lines, shapes, highlights and shadows. For me, an important aesthetic aspect of an image is the creative use of form; the positive space and negative space that fill a frame, and nudes allow you to really maximize on these elements.

The same principles can be extended to beauty photography: the clean lines; facial features enhanced by make-up, light and shadow; close up angles. I consider my ability to light different skintones effectively one of my strengths. It keeps surprising me that my lighting set-ups are different for every model, because of the diversity in skintones and bone structure. I really enjoy these challenges and often stumble upon new lighting techniques purely from just changing it up every time and experimenting – as a result I don’t have any lighting templates and honestly don’t understand how that would work! But as you can see, I am mad about beauty photography, not only because of the technical challenges but also because of the element of control I have and the amazing artists I get to team up with.

Fashion photography I enjoy too, but I unfortunately find it very hard to be inspired by a shoot if I do not love the clothes or the concept of a story. Fashion is a team effort more than anything else and it completely depends on every individual being equally invested in the project. We keep a close watch on international fashion and access is sometimes a challenge locally. So editorials are often specifically positioned for the local market and aren’t always aligned with my personal aesthetic. However, the fashion campaigns that I have been lucky to shoot have just been amazing. I fell in love with Danica Lepen’s aesthetic when we shot Marion and Lindie, and am excited to see where she’ll take the brand. There are also fashion directors and editors like Sharon Becker (Marie Claire) and Bev Nates (Cosmopolitan) that go out of their way to create really interesting editorials and I adore working with them, as they don’t only bring a unique interpretation of fashion to the effort but also give me a large amount of creative freedom. I am looking forward to working with Sharon again next month, as she is especially bringing in a favourite designer’s Fall/Winter 2012 RTW collection for the shoot.

Your photos seem to be made up of many elements, with all working together to achieve the overall result. Hair, make-up, lighting, posture, styling…the list goes on. This is of course a part of all photographs but in your photos it seems that there is a particular sense of cohesion. Do you work hard to achieve this, or is it a case of careful choice of whom you choose to work with? Can you talk a little about the importance of elements in your photography?

I work really hard at achieving this actually, and I chase those shoots when every second of preparation and a little bit of luck add up to some kind of magic. I’m actually a bit obsessive when it comes to preparation and militant about every detail. Most of my time and energy goes into planning and working around the concept and mood of a shoot, and the lighting is usually what drives it. Once I have an idea, then handpicking the right team for the particular shoot gets painstaking attention – each individual’s input is absolutely crucial and it is very important that everyone on the team is equally invested in the project. I need people on board that are as in love with what they do as I am, as that’s where the magic comes from for me. I guess a lot of the “cohesion” comes from this process, and the fact that every single shoot is subjected to this scrutiny – I treat every shoot the same, from pre-production to post-production, whether it is a quick advertorial or a nationwide campaign.

The series on your website that you shot for the well-known designer Gavin Rajah is really nice! I love the way you use the ‘natural’ elements of the stairs and handrails, etc to add a dynamic sense and feel to the images.
Is this use of ‘the environment’ something you particularly enjoy? How much influence did you personally have on the choice of location for this series and was it as smooth a shoot as the images suggest?

With the Gavin Rajah campaigns I have quite a bit of creative freedom, which is always a pleasure. The location used happened to be the entrance of his studio and the stairs caught my eye on the way to our meeting to discuss the campaign. I do enjoy shooting on location, but I’m as particular about a space as I am about every other aspect of a shoot. I tend to shy away from spaces that are busy visually because clutter overwhelms me. On the other end of the spectrum, spaces that are too naked or limited frustrate me immensely, so I guess it is about striking a balance and not a lot of locations make that cut. If I walk into a space that lifts my spirit and draws my eye on a journey without competing for energy, then it’s a win. When shooting on location I like elements – like the handrail of the stairs for example – to play the supporting actor’s role, drawing attention to the subject and adding to the emotion I’m trying to capture. Simplicity and minimalism across the board is key for me as I find visual noise distracting and every element in frame has to be an essential part of the story. That way, it also becomes blatantly obvious when something is missing and the image feels too naked.

I’d like to ask you about your choice of camera equipment…
I know you try to use medium format and Hasselblad in particular, as often as possible, are there any particular features of the Hasselblad system that set it apart from the other medium format cameras?

I do try to use the Hasselblad system as much as possible as I really enjoy the quality and software workflow. I unfortunately am not yet in the financial position to purchase my own Hasselblad gear, but it is very high up on the priority list!
In my personal experience I find the best feature of the Hasselblad to be its CCD: the image and skintone quality is second to none, especially when it comes to the dramatic light that I like to use with strong contrast – I love the richness of the shadows when shooting with Hasselblad and how it handles sharp gradients from dark shadows to highlights. Other great features are the ‘true focus’ button – a handy shortcut – and the prism viewfinder, which is very large and crystal clear.

Any drawbacks to using medium format?

The weight and speed of medium format cameras are the common drawbacks. You have to be used to larger formats to be comfortable shooting on a Hasselblad as it obviously tends to be slower than DSLR. But personally, the weight and speed of the Hasselblad has a nostalgic element that I prefer because of my film days when the industry standards were medium format cameras like Hasselblad 6/6, Pentax 6/7 and Mamia 6/7. I love the sound of the larger shutter system and the heavy body fits better in my hands. For most magazine work I use a Canon 5D M2 – it’s pretty lightweight and has a pro-amateur feeling, so I find myself wanting to add a battery grip to adjust the weight and size to get the same psychological effect!

Your recent work on the campaign for the Marion & Lindie 2011 campaign is awesome. Talk about a lot of elements in one series! But what is great, is that the elements are not distracting from the subject, instead they all add to the impact and present the clothes in an amazing way.

You used a H4D40 for this shoot. Can you talk a bit about your reason for choosing this camera? And what lenses you used?

Thanks. I chose to use the H4D40 purely for its class. I find the camera easy to use and it produces clear large quality images with tones true to what is seen with the naked eye. The in-store posters varied in size from small to floor-to-ceiling wallpaper, which meant that I needed great quality and depth of colour. I knew that the images would also undergo a strong grade in post, so the contrasted colour gradients would have to be able to uphold to a demanding grade (I often find that shadows start falling apart under strong grades when I shoot with other lower pixel cameras). In terms of lenses, I mainly used the 80mm lens because it is fast and lightweight which is ideal for handheld shooting.

The shoot must have presented some “challenges” for you, given the nature of the end product. Reflections, inverses, colours, shadows, clothing being showcased…there is a lot going in every shot. What did it involve getting this brilliant campaign finished and are you happy with the results. If you could change anything, what would you do differently? Were there any particular aspects of these shots that you found particularly tricky? Whatever they may have been, may I say, you overcame them seamlessly with the end results.

Well firstly, there are always elements of a shoot that, in retrospect, I would have liked to improve on. As my own biggest critic I will always find things that could have been done better – the day I stop doing that is the day I stop challenging myself. So yes, there are a number elements that I would have done differently if I had the knowledge I have now, but then that would defeat the purpose of learning from these experiences.

There were many details that needed close attention at every stage of the production because there were so many “firsts” with this campaign: it was my first campaign of this caliber, my first advertising job with Infidels, it was Danica’s first range and campaign for Marion and Lindie, it was the first time the brand used two models and the first campaign to use a girl of colour. So during the entire process, we had to be acutely aware of the history of the brand, the current brand identity, as well as Danica’s vision for the campaign and where she wanted to lead the brand with it.

Conceptually, an important element of the campaign was “duality”. In addition to using two models, we decided to incorporate mirrored reflections to reinforce this sense of duality. The colour palette was also very particular, which drove our decision to use a coloured mirror and we decided to stick to two colour groups in the set – tones of nude/white and aqua blues. Every detail was painstakingly discussed and prepared for beforehand on the days before the shoot, but some things were smoothened out in post-production. The background colour, for example came out too blue in camera despite me lighting it as warm as I could, and achieving an aqua/minty colour in the end result was important, so that was adjusted in post. Now I understand a bit more about how large painted areas react to light – something I had no experience of before!

There are many more examples like these, but I treasure these challenges, as they are invaluable, fertile opportunities to grow from. I think the entire team can look back at that shoot as a personal milestone experience: we were all challenged, rose to the occasion and learnt a great deal from it – so it is a campaign we can be very proud of.

What does it mean to you to be asked to photograph for someone of the calibre and standard of Marion & Lindie?

I really enjoyed working with Danica Lepen and feel honoured to have had the opportunity to shoot for the brand. As I mentioned before, I am really excited for the future of the line as it is in a talented pair of hands! It is a privilege to shoot for any brand, but it is extra special when I get to work with a brand that I appreciate and enthusiastic creatives like Danica. Treating each project with the same passion and dedication is a big part of who I am as a photographer, and when you get the opportunity to collaborate with a designer as passionate about and dedicated to their own craft, it is only an honour to interpret their vision for the brand.

Where can people find the range you photographed and how are your images for the campaign being used?

The Marion and Lindie campaign was shot for print advertising, in-store, point-of-sale prints and online media. It will be up at Marion and Lindie stores nationwide and outlets in Edgars and Stutterfords.

If people would like to see more of your work and hopefully book you to work with, how do they go about this?

They can go to my website http://www.jesseleighelford.com for more of my work and for bookings contact my agent at http://www.infidels.co.za.

Cool, thanks Jesse!
Really appreciate the time!!!

My pleasure – thanks for having me. A last word: I am a huge fan of Sunshine Company as the service is always professional, friendly and effortless.

Thanks Jesse, see you soon!

http://www.jesseleighelford.com
http://www.marionandlindie.co.za
http://www.infidels.co.za

Sunshine Company

Jesse-Leigh Elford

39 Comments

Leave a Reply

Search

Archives

Categories