I had the pleasure of first meeting the commercial and editorial portrait photographer at a Cambridge Open Studios event back in July of 2014. At the time, I had only one year of studying A Level photography to my name; although I was particularly interested in a series of portraits he had created, of a model with very prominent freckles and so I went to visit him. I interviewed Ian Farrell about how he had conducted the shoot as I had chosen this work for my visual analysis I had to complete for my course, this meant replicating the image as best I could. He also spoke to me of how he had graduated with a degree in Chemistry and went on to complete a PHD qualification – which led to him writing for science magazines. However, photography was his hobby, therefore he ended up swapping careers and writing about photography instead. Farrell worked in photography editing for quite a few years before switching to going fully freelance roughly nine years ago. Farrell stated at the time: “portrait photography is very much a collaboration between you and the sitter, it’s a joint effort and the best portraits come from when the model gets involved”.
The photo I am referencing can be found under ‘Headshots’ on his website, alongside all his other works too: http://www.ianfarrell.com
Recently, I have got back in contact with Farrell and have been most fortunate to be able to gain some professional work experience by assisting him. He works from a studio space in Cambridge and is very knowledgeable in digital photography, his achievements range from writing and publishing the ‘Complete Guide to Digital Photography’ to being commissioned by The Times and Fuji X Magazine multiple times, as well as working with the Medical Research Council in The Gambia and Cambridge.
The first day I had with him involved us testing out the new Fujifilm camera GFX 50S, a piece for the Fuji Film X online magazine. The camera is designed with a medium format style but it’s a digital camera and has a specific eye detection sensor for extra sharpness. Using lenses 110mm f/2 – the aim of the shoot was to create an extreme sharp focus on the model’s eyes. I assisted him in the studio, helping to set-up each different lighting arrangement to shoot the model – setting up backdrops, the light modifiers such as a beauty dish and a soft box, assisting him with reflectors and flash triggers. I also assisted him when he decided to shoot some photos outside, using a reflector to contribute to lighting the model’s face.
After we finished conducting the shoots, we proceeded to carefully select and edit the photographs in Adobe Lightroom. I gave my opinions on which photos and edits I think met the requirements best, asked of by Fuji X Magazine – ones with the sharpest focus around the eyes and that can easily be used in a magazine format. Farrell gave useful advice when showing me his process of post-production, for example, he claimed it’s good to select the photos which are all similar and edit the shoot in sections, narrowing each section down to it’s best edits in order to reach your final outcomes.
Here are some of the final images from this day which Ian Farrell created and I assisted him with, these will feature on the Fuji X online magazine at: https://www.fujifilm.eu/uk