Photographing Your Costumes for Your Portfolio, Onstage and in the Studio (Copy of my handout I produced for my lecture at Costume College 2004 for printing out.) — Tara Maginnis
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Russian Art Deco Mystery Costume Designs
I have here two costume design renderings, (below) in gouache, for a dance piece, that I bought on eBay absurdly cheap:
They were framed, and sealed, and between the paper, and other indications, I’d guess them somewhere from 1920-1940. There is no signature, notes or stamps. The left image is of a Russian Folk dancer, the right, is a folk dancer of another nationality (Italian? Spanish? Hungarian?). They are obviously by a Russian designer, but who, and from what show? I’m not interested in selling them, but I am interested in finding out who did them, or the production they are from. Any suggestions may be sent to me. Chances are that if you don’t understand why I say they are definitely by a Russian from 1920-1940, you won’t have the answer. However, you might be able to identify the nationality of the dancer’s dress on the right better than I can. So far two people have sent me ideas, one that the designs are by Alexandra Exter the other idea was Tatiana Puni, but I can’t confirm either of these. The closest designs I’ve found in a book are by Pavel Tchelitchew, but they are not that close in style. A guy from Yugoslavia thinks that the figure on the right represents a Hungarian, and I think that guess may be correct. ……Dec., 3, 2017
Taking Photographs of Stage Productions
(Note this was written in 1995 and so does not have information about digital photography) See also: Photographing Costumes For Your Portfolio On Stage And In the Studio
TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF STAGE PRODUCTIONS
Most theatre designers, technicians and students need to know how to photograph stage shows in order to get pictures they can later use in their portfolios. It is not necessary to transform yourself into an expert photographer to take good stage photographs. It is only necessary to understand a few basics as they relate to the needs of theatre movement and lighting. It is quite usual for an “expert” photographer, who knows all about F-stops, and aperture and flash to take lousy stage photos because he knows nothing about the needs of theatre.
THE PHOTO NEEDS OF THE THEATRE
First, what are those needs? Well, obviously, it is quite undesirable in rehearsals and performances to use a flash. It can blind the actors temporarily, which is distracting and dangerous, and it completely destroys the effect of stage lighting. Flash is very good for photo-call close ups in black and white for the newspaper, but is annoying in performances, and useless for pictures for the scenic and lighting designers. (see figs 1-3.)
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Costume Crafts AT 50 Below: The Fairbanks Non-Toxic Crafts Cookbook
(This article originally appeared in Theatre Design and Technology in 1994.)
CostumeCraftsAt30Below (PDF)
The best way to avoid damage from toxic materials in the work place is not to buy gloves that you never wear, nor to use respirators that never get their filters changed, nor to complain about the lack of proper spray booth that “the administration” will never pay to install anyway. The best away is to avoid using toxic products in the first place. You can prevent problems by getting into to habit of buying and using alternative non toxic products and by refusing to use dangerous materials when safe ones are available.
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Costume Shop Space, People, Food and Safety
Note: since I wrote this in the Mid 1990s I peeled off most safety issues to Costume Crafts At 50o Below: The Fairbanks Non-Toxic Crafts Cookbook
I also have, since writing this, switched from referring to my work space as a “Costume Shop” to a “Costume Studio”. For more on this topic, see Naming the Workspace: Costume Shop vs Costume Studio
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Naming the Workspace: Costume Shop vs Costume Studio
Many Costume construction work rooms, especially in Theatre Departments in US Colleges and Universities, are referred to as the “Costume Shop”, while others are called a “Costume Studio”. Essentially, they mean the same thing to the workers, the choice is largely made one way or the other because of perceived values associated with the two names, and efforts by the managers/namers of these spaces to get equal status and worker pay with the Scene Shop in the same building, or equal status, funding and worker pay with other artistic departments in a college. (Side note: Interestingly, unlike most other American theatre terminology these two choices are not based on English models, as in the UK these spaces are most often referred to as “Costume Workrooms”).
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Portfolios and Resumes
PORTFOLIOS FOR ALL YOUR JOBS: Most advice on portfolios for costumers tends to center on straight design portfolios. Yet there are relatively few design jobs out there that consist solely of costume design. My own fairly typical university position at UAF is supposed to consist of equal parts of teaching, research, and public service in my field. In other words, for my job I must, in addition to costume design all shows, teach classes in costume design, costume history, stage makeup and theatre history, do research and publications in my field, do related public services like curate exhibits of costumes for museums, advise local schools about costumes and makeup for shows, teach every sort of cutting and construction in the costume shop, and do periodic displays, posters, and photos for publicity. For me to go to an interview with only a design portfolio would be to leave out more than two-thirds of my work.
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Research Heresy
Research Heresy: As a high school student it was my ambition to become a librarian. As a result, my first paying job, as well as years of volunteer jobs and classes, were spent in libraries, working, studying their systems, and hiding out. This put me at a singular advantage all through college and grad school, and I was generally regarded by students and faculty alike as a sort of guru of library research. I could, and did, do major graduate research papers on obscure subjects in 3-7 days, start to finish, and get highest marks. So it was no great surprise to me when the faculty asked me to do a seminar on research for the assembled faculty and students in the department’s weekly lecture series. The faculty sat down expecting I’d give a serious harangue to my fellow students encouraging them to stick their noses to the grindstone of the library, and the students braced to snooze through yet another “scholarly paper”. I seemed to shock everybody, pleasantly or unpleasantly as the case may be, by actually explaining how I did my research. You see, because I understood the system, I understood how to “cheat” the system. So I explained that one could get information out of the library in bulk, in less time, without so much “nose to the grindstone.” I was, I’m afraid, even flip about it. And I admitted that the recent research paper I wrote that was considered by the faculty to be “of publishable quality” on French Revolutionary Festivals, was in fact the product of one weekend’s cramming. Well, the students didn’t fall asleep, and my advisers were looking not at all happy with me, but, I thought: “I have a mission here—I must lead the righteous to the path of better grades, no matter what the cost!” So I did. And here is my lecture (with some new tricks I’ve learned since):
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Deep Theory, Ideas for Show Concepts
THE IDEA COMES FIRST: There is a strange notion when you first begin designing costumes that some how “high concept” must translate to “high budget” or it isn’t possible. I’m not exactly sure where one acquires this stupid idea, but we, the design students at College of Marin and S.F. State, all had it.
This is simply wrong. Imagination, forethought, and unified concept are the three cheapest things you can do for a show, a fact that our professors attempted to hammer into us in vain. In fact, my post graduate experience showed me that usually these things can make a show happen more cheaply. At all events,there is no excuse for not having them, simply because your budget is small. You need to look at the play script, and talk to your director about ideas even before you talk about money. If you have the right idea, there will be a way to make it happen, money or not. It is ideas in design that get the ball rolling, once you have them, money often becomes irrelevant.
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Idea Stealing
IDEA STEALING: Ideas rarely, if ever, flow spontaneously forth in original brilliance from a mind untouched by outside influences. God does not, in costume design, tap lightly on your shoulder and tell you the All New Perfect And Inspired Way to design Miss Julie for your graduate design seminar. Some people’s designs may look like She did, but She didn’t. Design is a process that works out of, and through, many pieces of information, from costume history, to cultural perceptions of color, to actor’s body proportions, to budget realities, and more. Trying to design costumes without being influenced by outside factors is therefore, pointless.
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