The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas | Part I
CoDI at the Fringe... August saw a return to live performances at the Stand in Edinburgh for the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas.
Fujifilm X-Pro2 | 23mm f/1.4 1/60s ISO1250
The Project
The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas (CoDI) is summarised quite nicely on the CoDI website:
Now in its tenth year, CODI drags academics out of their ivory towers to debate today’s burning issues and cutting edge research with audiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and monthly at the Stand Comedy Club.
More formally, and again lifted from their own website, the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas provides an informal but high-profile platform for researchers to discuss their work with members of the public. I’ve been fortunate enough to be have been given the opportunity to photograph the shows and performers over an extended period. The post is my attempt to document the experience to date and get my own thoughts in order on any next steps.
With that in mind, it’s probably worth thinking about the aims of the project, which are twofold. The first objective is to create a set of images that can be used for the promotion of current and future shows and the individual performers, with wide and tight shots that give a good feel for the passion of the performers and the engagement with the audience.
The second aim is to support my own development as a photographer by building a small body of work with a defined style that I can use as part of a portfolio of images, hopefully demonstrating some level of technical and compositional competence.
While this is still a work in progress, the initial conclusion is that from my perspective at least, the collaboration is proving worthwhile. I’ve been happy with the images to date, they have been well received and the experience has provide a few learning points.
The Shows
The uncertainty around the COVID-19 restrictions that would be in place for the Fringe meant that the shows were designed to work as streamed events should in-person shows not be possible. One consequence was the decision to use two or three performers for each show, rather than a single performer and topic. In the event this translated well into the live setting, with tight sessions from the performers and plenty of variety for the audience.
Photographically this was brilliant; more sets of performers meant more sets of images for each show. Over the course of four days, comprising eight shows, I was able to capture twenty two performers.
Dr Mabel Victoria - Toilet Graffiti.
Fujifilm X-Pro2 | 90mm f/2.0 1/100s ISO800
There was almost as much variety in the style, experience and approach of the performers as there was in the range of topics covered. Presentational styles ran from the presenter with mic to the more performative with props and costumes. All however presented their subjects with passion and clarity.
The show, of course, needs much more than the performers. The show needs a good compère and Susan Morrison, as an integral part of the CoDI family, is great at ensuring the shows flow and run to time. In addition, there’s a large supporting cast…
Audience Interaction… Dr Colin Chandler - Strokes
Fujifilm X-Pro2 | 35mm f/2.2 1/125s ISO800
The Photography
It was superb to be given such fantastic access, both front of stage and back. This level of access also comes with some responsibility; the show is a commercial venture with paying customers, so the photography very much needs to take a back seat and, insofar as is possible, be unintrusive. This guides some kit and setup decisions.
Shalhavit-Simcha Cohen - Networking.
Fujifilm X-Pro2 | 90mm f/2.2 1/200s ISO800
The first consideration is noise; CoDI is spoken word so the operation of the camera needs to be as silent as possible. Focus beeps or the clatter of a mechanical shutter would be pretty much guaranteed to irritate the audience and performers alike. All of the confirmation beeps on the camera were switched to silent and, while the mechanical shutter on my mirrorless camera isn’t loud, I switched to the silent electronic shutter. (Happily rolling shutter in these circumstances isn’t an issue).
The second consideration is lighting; while the stage lighting seems bright to the audience it is still, in photographic terms, still a relatively low light situation. Keeping the ISO down to preserve image quality is, therefore, a consideration so I opted to use a range of wider aperture primes for the Fringe shows, typically shooting at an aperture of around f/2.0. Fortunately the light levels themselves are pretty constant at any one show, so I could afford to set the camera’s setting manually and simply tweak dependent on performer, shot, and costume. (White shirts play absolute havoc with your metering). With such wide apertures focus is critical; here the technology is generally a great help, but in lower light conditions you can’t always rely on the software being flawless.
For the Fringe shows I used three primes - 23mm, 35mm and 90mm (in 35mm terms, this equates to 35mm, 50mm and 135mm). This gave a range of compositional choices - wide establishing shots taking in the audience, shots capturing the environment and closer in shots focussed on the performer. The shows were sufficiently distanced to allow me to move around the venue to capture a couple of different viewpoints and, while changing lenses mid-performance is a slight pain, there was sufficient times and predictability to make this perfectly feasible.
It’s probably also worth briefly mentioning the processing of the images. Most have has some noise reduction applied and some tonal adjustments to offset the harsh stage lighting, but on the whole there’s not too much in the way of processing. I did, however, apply a colour grade to all of the images which certainly lends them a consistency in terms of look and feel. However, on reflection I may look to change this for future shoots. The bigger job is the initial culling of the images; it’s important to over-shoot in this type of scenario as you’ll inevitably be left with reams of shots with eyes shut, mouths wide open and some less than flattering expressions.
Next Steps / Development
I had the opportunity to shoot a later show in September with three of the performers from the Fringe run. To some extent this gave me a ‘free hit’ to experiment with a different setup, this time using a 50-140mm zoom (75-210mm equivalent) with the aim of getting some tighter shots. I’m quite pleased with the results and will add this to the armoury for future shoots. The processing is also slightly cleaner, which again gives me something else to consider.
Amy Andrada in full flow on why women are assholes (to each other)…
Fujifilm X-T3 | 140mm f/2.8 1/200s ISO1600
Final Thoughts
Taking stock after the first set of shows I’d say that I’m pretty happy with what I’ve taken to date; there are some good images in there and some areas to develop further. There is, of course, an element of repetition in the images. All twenty two performers were on the same stage, under broadly the same light and performing roughly the same actions. Having a clear idea of the set-up, the types of images and composition that will work allows the photographer to focus on finding the right moment to press the shutter.
It’s also fair to say that I have a good set of performance images. Despite being in the green room I took the decision very early to leave my camera in the bag in this space; it’s the performers space where they are relaxing / preparing / revising their performance and, I felt, photographing in this environment would not make a positive contribution. What’s missing, then, is the photographs of the academics. None of those presenting are professional performers (although each throughly entertained a discerning and paying audience). I’m hoping for an opportunity later in the process to capture the performers as academics away from the stage setting.
The final point to make is that I have found the whole experience to be both thoroughly entertaining and intellectually stimulating; each of the performers is an expert in their chosen field and passionate about their subject. One of the feedback questions posed to the audience is whether they learned anything new from the show; I’m pleased to say that I also found shooting these shows to be an educational experience in more ways than one.
References / Acknowledgements
I am very thankful to have been given this opportunity and would like to thank Stephen and Fraser at Fair Pley, Fiona at CoDI, Susan and all the performers as well as everyone at The Stand for their help, generosity and patience. It has been a delight and I’m looking forward to developing the relationship further.
One of the COVID prevention measures was the use of individual microphones covers for each of the performers, referred to as muffs. No gags were made about this either on stage or off…
Fujifilm X-Pro2 | 23mm f/1.4 1/250s ISO1250
