I was asked to photograph the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival last year, which was the first time I’ve really photographed theatre. I acted (badly) in a couple of plays in university and have done some volunteering in the past with Langham Court Theatre here in town, so it was nice to be around theatre people again. Actors are a lot of fun to photograph and the performances were really excellent.
I photographed some promo shots, while the artistic director Karen Lee Pickett directed the actors, and loved how expressive the actors could be. I photographed one rehearsal for each of the two plays and then photographed one performance of each. I also took a friend to watch Pericles, so I got to watch it three times. There’s so much theatre talent in this town.
Some of the promo shots are below. The first three are for The Tempest, with a gender-swapped Prospero. The last two are for Pericles, which I’d never heard of before, but was really entertaining and heart-warming.
The photos taken at rehearsal were used to promote the plays closer to the date. I was able to get really close for these, so they reflect the actors’ expressions well. I didn’t bother cropping these at all, so the festival could decide how to crop them for website and social media use. Below is The Tempest’s rehearsal.
And Pericles’ rehearsal.
For the performances, they wanted me to focus on showing the crowd and atmosphere of the outdoor stage. I wasn’t able to get as close anyway, so this worked out well. Below is The Tempest.
And Pericles.
If you get a chance to see one of the shows this summer, you should go. It’s a fun experience and the cast and crew do an awesome job.
