I have been remiss in updating this blog for awhile, so thought I would post some mini-blogs about some of the things I’ve been doing photographically.

There is a local theater group in Nagoya, called the Nagoya Players, that I have taken photos for in the past. Two years ago I became acquainted with the group while they were producing a play called Psychic, written and directed by local director Shawn Mahler. I took photos of the dress rehearsal for that production, and got to know the director, Shawn, as well as some of the actors. You can see some of my photos on the Nagoya Players’ “Psychic” page:

http://nagoyaplayers.org/2015/09/psychic/

The Nagoya Players will be performing Aesop’s Fables at the end of March, and I have been doing some photo shoots of the actors in their handmade costumes, some of which I will post in future blogs.

But, for this blog, I wanted to mention a workshop I did recently with the Nagoya Players. The topic was Audition Photography. I hadn’t really known this term. While I have done many portrait shoots in the past, the majority have been informal, location-specific shoots, and the models have mostly used them for posting to social media sites. The goal of audition photography is for actors and talent to have professional looking head and body shots taken that can be submitted to casting agencies. We had two speakers, both of whom have been actors with the Nagoya Players, and a small group of participants including kids, a college student, an actor and a magician (hopefully we will get more for future workshops).

First John Ahern talked about how to present yourself to an agency. He stressed submitting photos that accurately represent what you look like now (and looking like your photos when going in for interviews), and how directors are looking for a specific look for a given role and that you either match that look or you don’t, but to not get discouraged. Then, George Van Horn talked about what factors he looked for in photos submitted by actors when he had a job as casting director, as well as his experience in auditioning for, and getting a role in a Japanese drama. He emphasized the importance of submitting professional looking photos, and gave tips on how to make yours stand out from the sea of photos casting directors have to wade through.

Then, we got into the nitty-gritty, with George demonstrating poses appropriate for both men and women. He talked about how to do a C pose for men, and an S pose for women, as those poses help put the body in a flattering posture. Then, he described the must-have shots, including facing the camera straight on, and from a two-thirds angle, with variations for each, including chin down, chin level, and chin up to quickly achieve several different looks. As it was a small group, most of the participants were able to have a go and being in front of the camera, with George directing, and me clicking the shutter.

As I haven’t really done “Audition Photography” before it was a good learning experience for me, and a chance to meet other Nagoya folks and do some networking. Hopefully, we will be putting on more workshops like this in the future, so if you’re in the Nagoya area, and interested, keep an eye on The Nagoya Players homepage for more information.

http://nagoyaplayers.org/

Also, try to catch Aesop’s Fables at the end of March! It will be an entertaining family friendly show featuring great local talent, and beautiful costumes made by an “Arimatsu Shibori” tie-dye expert. I will post more about it here soon.

http://nagoyaplayers.org/shows/aesops-fables/