The Idea
The idea for this shoot in the metro was one that had been kicking around in my brain for some time since moving to Valencia, Spain. I greatly appreciate street photography and I have always found myself drawn to images shot in underground trains and the associated stations. Now that I lived in a city that this type of public transport, I had been thinking of how I could create something special in it.
Often images of subways and metros are gritty and rough, and since I like to run in the opposite direction of the “expected”, I decided to mix some elegance into this space. I had a model in mind, but just having the model was only one of the pieces necessary to pull this together. I was going to need a team for this idea, but before gathering everyone needed together, I needed to do some research.
My vision for the final images included having a lovely model in an elegant dress in a metro station. Behind her would be a moving train that would be blurred by its motion. In order to determine the necessary settings to get proper exposure, color, and the right amount of blur, I would need to do some on-site testing.
Scouting and Testing
I made mental notes about the Metro stations I would pass through along the lines in Valencia including which ones had suitable lighting as well as ones that weren’t very busy at certain times of day. This led me to choose the El Cid station and that it was best to arrive during the week in the early afternoon. The lighting was low, but would work, and in the early afternoons, there were very few people on the platforms.
Once I knew the time and place, I returned to the station the following day with my camera in hand. Since the trains would be stopping as they arrive at the station, I positioned myself at the end of the platform from where the train would be arriving. After several train arrivals and changes of shutter speed for each one, I found that 1/30th of a second created the amount of motion blur I was looking for.
To get into the technical aspect for a moment, in order to get a correct exposure at 1/30th, I would need to use ISO 800 and an aperture of 2.0. Shooting at these settings would mean the model would need to remain still for each shot and I would need to get my focus spot on as depth of field would be limited at f 2.0. I would also be relying on a steady hand and the camera’s stabilization to get “clear” images as I didn’t want to use a tripod if possible.
The MetroValencia El Cid Station
The Team
Now that I understood what I needed to know for my part, it was time to assemble the team. I reached out to Karina Muravska to be the model and since she had worked with Atelier Anna Haute Couture in the past, we worked with the to find the right dress for the shoot. For makeup and hair, I enlisted Madalina Ghizdeanu.
Atelier Anna provided a vibrant green dress in which Karina absolutely glowed while Madalina created the smokey-eye look we wanted to provide the right amount of drama to Karina’s look. We did the makeup and got Karina dressed at our location and together with Madalina and Karina’s husband Alex, we headed to the Metro.
On the Scene
With the El Cid station only one stop from from where we boarded the train, it was a short ride to where we would shoot. Once off the train, Madalina did some touch-ups on the makeup and hair as we prepared for the next train to arrive on our side of the station. Since each train was only in motion for about eight seconds as it arrived before it became too slow to blur. Karina would hold a pose, then switch poses about four times before we had to stop and wait for the the next train.
While I was shooting, Alex was capturing lots of backstage videos to capture the process. Madalina also shot some footage and I used videos from both of them for the behind the scenes video clip below.
Video compiled from footage by Alex and Madalina with final photos from the session. | Music: Deep Trance Vol. 1 Produced by Sascha Ende
We were fortunate that the station was relatively empty that day as we didn’t want to accidentally include anyone in the background who might not want to be photographed. Also the staff at the station didn’t take notice of us or otherwise didn’t see us doing anything that they considered might be an issue. This was good as I never actually knew for sure whether or not we should be do a photo session there. Of course we would have left if we had been asked to, but I’m glad were weren’t 🙂
Thanks
I want to thank everyone involved in helping put this series together. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results from this shoot and it couldn’t have happened without everyone’s hard work and dedication. A special thanks to Karina for working so hard to stay still with her hair whipping around her face during the train passes as well as dealing with the cold air since it was December when we shot this.
As if this shoot wasn’t enough for one afternoon, Karina and Alex went out with me that same evening in a different dress for some shooting with the Christmas lights put up by the city. We captured some wonderful images that evening as well, but that’s a story for another time.