Capturing Creatives

By Ellie Pritts

December 28^th, 2018

Portraits were my Thing

When I first got started as a photographer, I shot almost exclusively portraits. In those days I'd spend countless hours in the darkroom painstakingly working on portraits of my first subject, my little sister Chrystala. Later, I took studio portrait classes at Marwen, a free arts program for Chicago Public Schools students. I actually did a whole blog post dedicated to those early years if you're interested, you can check that out here.

My focus in photography has shifted over the last 15 years or so since I first started. For a long time I shot mostly live music for publications like Pitchfork and SPIN. Now I'm probably most often thought of for my kaleidoscopic landscapes. But I have always loved portraiture, specifically of musicians. Capturing musicians is a special challenge that I enjoy; it involves synthesizing who they are as individuals and their music. Often these portraits are used as album art or press photos and in many cases they will be someone's first impression of an artist. The photos set the stage for the music they create. Here are some of my favorite portraits of musicians that I've taken.

Color is key

Even as a portrait photographer, I'm most often sought out for my use of color that you usually see in my landscapes. This is harder to achieve than you might think, because unlike a landscape scene a portrait has skin tones to account for. I don't want people's skin to look discolored or alien (unless they want to be aliens!) I like to play with color most often in a studio setting, or by playing with the natural spectrums created by lens flares or occasionally a prism. Sometimes I will utilize double exposures to introduce or deepen a color palette and provide texture. I also like playing with colored gels either directly over my lens or on a light.

tell their story in a single frame

Below is the one of the only live performance shots I'm including in this post. It's one of my favorites and one that I think does a great job of capturing a real moment with Childish Gambino. The expression in his eyes here as he looks out at sea of tens of thousands of people at a music festival is really powerful. That serious expression juxtaposed with his playful attire really taps into what I think of when I hear Childish Gambino's music.

I try to achieve these "moments" in my portraits; a moment that will likely be more constructed than this live shot. One of my favorite things about shooting artists portraits is the opportunity to truly collaborate. When shooting performances, I felt like an observer ever poised to capture the shot I was waiting for. Shooting portraits is more creatively fulfilling to me.

success stories worth writing about

I've been fortunate to have plenty of opportunities to shoot famous artists, and for that I am really grateful. But when I discover someone new who is still relatively obscure it is really exciting. I've worked with so many musicians over the years, I like to think I can tell when someone has what it takes to succeed. I get so much vicarious joy working with developing artists that I truly believe in. One of my favorite stories is of how I came to work with the artist pictured below, Sir The Baptist. He was my Lyft driver several years ago. He told me he was a musician and asked if I wanted to hear his music. Most of the time when that happens, I'm stuck in an awkward car ride listening to embarrassingly bad techno. But when he popped in his CD I was floored. His music was really good. I immediately gave him my card and we booked our first shoot shortly afterwards.

In the 5+ years since I was his Lyft passenger, Sir The Baptist has become quite successful, signing with Atlantic Records and nominated for a BET Award. Below is my favorite photo from our first shoot, taken on the roof of his father's church in Chicago.

A Lack Of Color

This year I've been exploring more black and white photography. It's actually how I started, I shot exclusively black and white film for the first 4 years or so of my career. Here are some of my favorite black and white photos I've taken this year. Interestingly enough, all of these subjects are composers.

There's something timelessly classic about a black and white photograph. I think it was well-suited for these composers. I also like experimenting with treating film in this black and white format, you'll see the results of one of those experiments at the bottom of this photo set. It's a photo of Dave Valdez where he is almost entirely obscured by stains on the negative. He ended up using that shot as album art for his most recent piece.

technicolor dream worlds

While I love working in black and white, color is where I thrive. I absolutely love working with artists who want me to create the perfect palette for their world. One of those artists is the mega talented singer and YouTube star Vidya Vox, pictured below in a dreamy purple haze.

Light, natural or otherwise

I'm often asked how I achieve the colors in my work. There's a lot that goes into it, but one major component is light. My studio is like a color lab to me. I have countless gels I throw onto my strobes, various reflective backdrops and an arsenal of glass objects to shoot through. I bring a lot of this along for shoots that take place on other locations. When I'm shooting elsewhere, I like to pick places that have colorful features like brightly painted walls or interesting foliage. These natural palettes inform my editing decisions later down the line.

To pose or not to pose

I started approaching portrait sessions a little differently this year. In the past I would be booked and then most of the work happened during the shoot. Now I make a point of having a well thought out creative direction session with the artist as far out ahead of the shoot as I can. Then we work on a mood board together, compiling visual inspiration. In the time leading up to the shoot, I'll listen to their latest music (often still in the works) on repeat, building up a universe in my head. Once they arrive for our shoot, I'll usually have a list of poses and angles I want to explore. But often it's the unplanned moments that I love the best.

listen up

I hope you enjoyed these portraits of some of the most talented and promising musicians out there. I've linked to all of their work and I encourage you to explore their music. You might find your next favorite artist! If you do, be sure to let me know.