Yermi Kaplan

Ben-Gurion University has a tradition of hosting quality live performances every Tuesday. These performances are usually free for students. As head of the student body's photography department, I was tasked with providing on-the-minute "teaser" images for these events.

Since each artist only arrives on campus less than an hour before his performance, and is usually busy setting up for the show - I'm lucky to get even five minutes of their time.

To overcome these constraints, I had to work fast, and keep the shoots simple.

I opted for a single strobe (SB-26 camera right), shot through a white umbrella at 45 degress to the subject. This allowed the light to act as both a key light for the subject, and as a fill light for the background.

I set the shutter at my maximum sync speed, and shot at half/full power. This allowed me to close up the aperture enough in order to filter out all the hideous and mixed temperature stage lights.

The background was provided by two student body logo posters I pulled together from the sides of the stage. And before the artist arrived, I used one of the stage crew as a stand in to test the lighting setup.

When Yermi came in to do his sound check, I shot a few frames and was done in less than three minutes. This was rather fortunate, since less than 30 seconds later me and my light-stand were quickly shooed off stage.

Though Yermi came out a bit tight-lipped in the final shot, I rather like it, and think it rather reflects his musical style. If you'd like to hear some of his music you can visit his myspace page. And if you're ever near Ben-Gurion University during the semester, be sure to drop by for a free cultural treat!