Shane Bryant Portraits

Shane Bryant is a long-time friend of mine. He is a gifted and talented ceramic artist who owns The William Felton School of Crafts in the west end of Greenville, South Carolina. He needed some photographs of him at his school for various media needs. I jumped at the chance to shoot him in his environment.

We took some out side shots featuring the front of his school/studio and then went inside to get some images of him surrounded by his work.

Using a Westcott 28" softbox on Shane and a 60" shoot-through umbrella for the back wall helped control the light a little. I wanted you to see his work but separate him from the background at the same time. 

Framing Shane with his work was important and took some maneuvering so you could see it but not have anything protruding out of his head and body.

After getting the straightforward posed shots, we let Shane do what he does best and throw some pots and get some images of him at work. These could be a bit more dramatic, so I just used one light in a Westcott 28" softbox.

It was amazing to watch him work. Working clay for him is so second-nature that he flies through it. It was tough going from shot to shot because the work transforms so fast. I pretty much shot as fast as I could changing up the framing to capture a good variety. The detail shots, which are normally a pretty mundane necessity, reveal the colors, textures and techniques involved in the work.