TIFF'13

Rick Madonik, Staff Photographer - @Rmadonik

Léa Seydoux (left) and Adèle Exarchopoulos, stars in Blue is the Warmest Color, pose for a portrait.

 

With the closing days of this year's edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) here's a quick look at the last week of work. For the most part, I hustled from one 5 star hotel room to another with a list of personalities and a tentative time schedule. Tentative, because things tend to run later and later as the day progresses and things get backed up.

Overall, this year was a good go. Maybe becasue I went into it in "Ottawa mode." Its something I became acquainted with in the 90s when I worked in Ottawa and often found extremely limited windows of time accorded the "photographer." The fact the "working" office was almost always "sanitized" from any appearance of actual work, always added to the less than perfect portrait space.

So, with that in mind, this year I committed myself to less than 2 minutes of shooting regardless of the personality. The reporters enjoyed it, because they got an extra 2-3 minutes of talk time - which doesn't sound like much but its 10-15% more time.

Now, I did cheat a bit because if there were no objections, I would shoot head shots during the actual interviews. I limited my 2 minute rule to the formal portrait part of the equation. Several of the nicest pictures came from the interview shots. Most, if not all, also look as if they were posed, but they weren't. Usually the subject was simply listenting to the reporter's question, or between their words as they answered.

Watch the Tannis Toohey video of how one of these 2 minute shoots went early on during this year's TIFF. http://www.thestar.com/news/2013/09/11/masterglass_ep_16_guerrilla_portraiture.html

Léa Seydoux listens to the reporter's question.

Adèle Exarchopoulos also listens to the reporter's question.

Horns star Juno Temples poses during a 45 second formal portrait sitting.

Juno Temples listens to the reporter's question. There's nothing posed about this frame, except the fact it looks posed.

Director Errol Morris stops to chose his words as he answers questions during the interview.

Co-directors John Maloof (right) and Charlie Siskel, photographed in a hallway of a very cluttered office housing a smaller production company.

Chilean actress Paulina Garcia poses for her portrait. Even with extra time (the reporter had to cancel) I kept my 2 minute rule in effect.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch stars in THE FIFTH ESTATE. The room and light were set, he came in, sat for 40 seconds, and was off.

Penn (rear) & Teller pose for a portrait as they come to TIFF with Tim's Vermeer, a movie directed by Teller.