Stockland Martel

Photojournalist Alex Garcia of The Chicago Tribune writes an excellent blog called Assignment Chicago, encompassing everything from street photography (like this stripey hot-pink one of an evening commuter ascending stairs) to photo tips (such as “How to Take Candid Pictures of Strangers”). Looking through his archive today, I found a post in which he chronicles his experience taking a portrait of actor Zac Efron for a Tribune feature story. He was allotted 5 minutes to do his job and had very little time to prepare—at 9:30 AM, he was on his way back to the newsroom from another assignment when he was told that he’d be shooting Efron at 11. That’s newspaper life for ya.

Here’s a look at what happened next:

.

9:45 a.m. -  Arrive at paper and look for the tilt shift lenses in the pool locker- “Arrggh, Where did they all go?” I grab an 85mm f/1.8 lens, thinking shallow depth of field with my Canon 5DMarkII.

10:00 a.m. -  Looking at websites to update myself on what Zac has been doing and what direction he might be wanting to go as an actor. Nice guy? Tough guy? Dark? Light? Serious?

10:15 a.m. -  Look at recent pictures of him from a Parade shoot and at other photojournalists’ celebrity portraits to get creative juices flowing.  Wow, Jay Clendenin has been doing great work.

10:20 a.m. -  Go down to car and rifle through all my equipment and brainstorm what I can do with equipment available. Theorize that a shallow depth of field with high speed sync of softboxes using Canon Speedlites might work.  On-camera infra-red controller forms basis of shoot.

.

The shoot was not without its snafus. The battery in his infrared controller unexpectedly dies (Garcia’s internal dialogue at that point: “ARRRRGGGGHHHHH…”). Before Garcia has even shot a frame, Efron’s agent indicates he wants to see the photos midway through the process. “I ignore the request,” Garcia writes. “It’s not our policy at the Tribune but I don’t want a disagreement between us to create bad vibes in the room before I’ve even taken a picture.” And finding a decent spot to take the photo in the drab hotel room is a challenge.

.

11:24 a.m. – We move back to the couch. I try a profile of him looking out window, but it doesn’t work. Cliche. Annoying. Hotel rooms. Ugh.  At this point, due to the situation of thinking on the fly, I’m drenched in sweat.  I suggest he lay down (what fan of his wouldn’t want to see him lying down) but he calls the idea of him laying on the couch with his arms behind his back, “cheesy.” Ok, maybe it was. I still hope to get a picture from above, but they all react negatively when I suggest standing on the wood edge of a glass coffee table. Moving on.

.

But finally, after 5 minutes that feel (to this reader, anyway) like agony, Garcia gets the shot. Click here or on the image below to read more of Garcia’s post “Tuesday Tips: Zac Efron – Anatomy of a 5 Minute Celebrity Portrait.”

.

.

.