Street Photography Magazine

G

uitarist Jan Henning commissioned me
to shoot a series of photos with a ‘blues’
theme for his CD Ojo de Gatoand for a
coffee-table book about his collection of
guitars. The idea was to create images that
immediately evoke musical associations for
the viewer. Railroads are a recurring theme in
blues music, symbolizing loneliness, the sheer
size of the United States and the long journeys
we sometimes have to undertake to reach our
goals.

The Location

We used a disused railroad yard full of old
wagons awaiting restoration. From the

moment we found this place, it was obvious

that we had stumbled on an endless

source of wonderful moods, textures, colors

and shapes: weeds, overgrown tracks,

weathered wood and virtually limitless

expanses of metal covered in peeling paint

and rust. After a few phone calls, we

were able to contact the site’s owner, who

quickly gave us permission to stage a

photo session. Even if a location appears

abandoned, I have often found that it helps

to make contact with people in the know

before beginning a shoot. I usually find

that people respond positively and are

interested in my plans. In this case, my

inquiries also provided us with the key to an

old locomotive shed, where a vintage steam

train was being renovated.

Lighting

Technically speaking, a cloudy day with

homogenous, diffuse light would have been

better for balancing the contrast between the

heavy shadows beneath the wagons and the

brightly-lit gravel between the tracks. In the

end, we were so fascinated by the effects

produced by the sun peeking out from

between the wagons that we chose a sunny

day after all.

There was no power supply in the vicinity,

and we had to stay mobile, so we used a Nikon

Location Workshop | Guitar Shoot

Cyrill Harnischmacher

Photographing a Guitar

on location

My client wanted a moody, ‘blues’-style photo of a semi-acoustic guitar.

“No problem”, I thought, once I had found the right location – but the

shoot turned out to be trickier than I had imagined, with unexpected

reflections, curved surfaces, dust and various lighting anomalies all

presenting their own special challenges. The following pages tell the

story of how we finally achieved the look and feel we wanted.

Dust settling on the subject can be a serious problem
when you are shooting on location

Some parts of the guitar were heavily shaded and had

to be artificially brightened