RobertBenson.com

“One job leads to another” that’s what I tell myself or others when they might be questioning why they are shooting something they may not want to be shooting. Even with great assignments sometimes I find that one job leads to another.

This rule seemed to be the case too for photographer Mat Szwajkos, who recently shot for InStyle magazine at the Toronto Film Festival. There, he shot black and white “photo booth” style images of celebrities. He said previous work he did – close up portraits of celebs made with a wide angle lens inches from their face – got him the gig: “I got this assignment because the up close project showed that I can gain trust quickly and get the shot in only a couple frames.” Read more from Mat below.

Photos by Mat Szwajokos

I saw your rich, luscious portraits in the November issue of InStyle Magazine. A three page spread, but I had to look really hard for the byline. The headline read: “Every year, Oscar buzz begins up north, where the biggest stars premiere the biggest movies at the Toronto Film Festival. InStyle teamed up with Matt Damon’s charity, One X One, to set up a photo studio. Our favorite actors came by as a favor to Damon-and we, in turn, asked them: What’s the last favor you requested of a friend?” That’s all good, but I feel like this entire creation really comes down to the image you made – do you think your byline should have been worked into the sub-headline here?
I agree, my images make the story come together but ultimately this is about the charity and not me.

Were these images made somewhere near the red carpet entrance, or inside the venue?
My studio was set up in the InStyle lounge at the Windsor Arms Hotel right in the heart of the festival.

What kinds of permissions were necessary to obtain to set up this kind of photo booth. I know organizers of celeb events like the Toronto Film Festival may like to limit media areas/events….
In general you have to have a great team in place to bring in the A-list talent. Everything has to go through the movie house publicists and then each celebrity’s personal publicist before they can walk in the door and be photographed. They are all there for the promotional junkets, from press conferences to portrait sessions, premiers to parties, everything is a choreographed dance of public relations. All of the sessions were prearranged and scheduled to fit the talents’ daily press tours. I have to give credit to Karen and Bronwyn at InStyle for allowing me to remain focused on shooting while they handled the schedule.

Was the question which the celebs answered posed to them there during the photoshoot? If so, did their answers, or contemplating of answers, play in to some of the reactions you shot? My shoot was separate from the questions that they were asked. I wanted to provide them a place to let loose and not worry about the rest of their day, which normally included more photo shoots and interviews right after they left our lounge.

How much time on average did you get with your subjects?
Average time shooting: about 3-4 minutes

Can you describe your interplay with the celebs while your shooting? Are you talking the whole time while you shoot? Do you blast away as quickly as you can in the short amount of time you get, or is it more of a controlled slow paced shoot?

The first thing out of my mouth was: “We are doing fun, black and white, photo booth style portraits. You can do whatever you want. Picture yourself with friends at a party or the last time you were in a photo booth.” I pushed the idea of a photo booth instead of “portrait session” so they could separate themselves from the press circuit and get creative. I wanted to stay as far away from the generic headshots that most film festival portrait studios go for.  I encouraged improvisation. I only had five minutes max, so I turned the music all the way up and just went for it. I tried to keep the sessions as light as possible, keeping the conversation going when needed and directing only when I had to. I have been in situations where time is short and over-directing really hurts the images. Leaving room for spontaneity really allowed me to get everything I could out of each person quickly.

If you’re just not getting moments or emotion or reaction from subjects, what do you do?
I showed a few examples of what others had done before for inspiration before we started shooting. If I hit a wall, I offered different types of expressions and feelings to help build the energy back up. When Keri Russell came in, she told me right away that she gets nervous in front of the camera. So we joked for a couple minutes and I started shooting, then she started to look down. I quickly recognized that she was about to withdraw from the shoot. I told her that she could shoot me after a couple more shots. She picked up her head and smiled. It made the whole shot happen and I got her trust. Then she had a good time making me jump around.

Photos by Mat Szwajkos

You might be best known for your celebrity close up portraits, made with a wide angle lens inches from your subjects face. This shoot is not as intimidating perhaps to the subjects.
No, this shoot was much less confrontational. It was about having a good time and letting go. I got this assignment because the up close project showed that I can gain trust quickly and get the shot in only a couple frames. I did how ever shoot almost everyone close up after the “photo booth” session.

The “photo booth” wasn’t subject operated (subjects pushing shutter) was it?
No, not at all. (Except for Keri, she got to push the button.) It was a full studio set up.

In the magazine layout, there are images laid out as if on a 120mm film strip. Design thing right? Did you shoot film for this?
I shot digital. We talked ahead of time about the possibility that they may put together a film strip to look like photo booth pictures. In fact I liked the idea so much that I used it to present the work on my site too.

Photo by Mat Szwajkos

Who’s decision was it to go black and white?
Mainly mine. I was hired based on the close-ups that I have been shooting in B&W. The photo editor and I talked for several weeks about how I was going to light it and shoot it. I sent over some ideas along with images that I liked and I told him I would have the color versions since I was shooting RAW but wanted to stick to the classic B&W photo booth style.

And for the lighting junkies, can you tell us how you went about lighting the portraits?
Simple lighting. Beauty dish for the main light and strip soft boxes in the back powered by one ProFoto 7A pack.

Can you hint a bit at how you convert to black and white and retain such richness in the images?
I shoot with Canon bodies and lens. I always shoot RAW files. JPGs are fine for fun point and shoot images but never ok for work. I have been using Lightroom for all of my jobs and really love the results. I created a custom preset that I applied when I imported the images off the cards and into the library. I would then edit and begin my adjustments. I use the “grayscale mixer” to retain the skin tones and detail. These adjustments can be compared to using color filters on your lens when shooting with B&W film. I also use the tone curve to bump the contrast.