Pho·tog Friday: James Minchin III

Welcome to Pho·tog Friday!

Two Questions: (A) Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work as a still photographer on the set of a hit TV show? (B) Are you a fan of AMC's TV series Mad Men? My answer to both of these questions is "heck yea"! If your answers were similar, I think you're going to like the images below taken by photographer, James Minchin III. Represented by Fox Creative, a photography agency based out of New York City and Los Angeles, Minchin has extensive experience shooting still images on the set of hit TV shows... Mad Men to be specific...

If you've seen the Emmy nominated series, you know that the show starts in 1960 and progresses through the decade of free love. In short, the main character, Donald Drapper, works in an advertising agency with a slew of other characters; all of whom seem to be finding themselves - or - loosing themselves with each coming episode. There are multiple themes that are explored within the series: adultery and sexism being the main motif, alcoholism, counterculture, identity, racism and of course... smoking. Everyone is lighting up a cigarette in this show, to the point where one almost has to look through a cloud of smoke to see the actors! The writing is brilliant and the acting is fantastic - certainly unique - particularly January Jones' character. The use of color throughout the show fits the era and the lighting is phenomenal, thanks to the Set Lighting Technicians.

Television shows are meant to be viewed in motion - naturally - although what happens when the characters we "know" are placed into still images? How do Minchin's images also capture the nature of the 1960's? Have you ever tried to capture a specific era within a still image or within a moving image? What props are needed? How does lighting and color play into capturing a specific time frame? Notice any "modern day" props in these images?