Sinical Magazine: How did you get started in photography?
Frankinsella: This happened in 2 stages, both due to Whitby Goth Weekend. I always used to be the person in my social group who had a compact camera with me whenever we went to gigs and festivals and took photos of us for our social media. We have always gone at least once a year to Whitby and one year someone accidentally spilled a pint of Snakebite and Black over my camera, which caused me to upgrade and start playing with an entry level DSLR. Later a couple of female friends from the Goth scene started modelling and I realised I had no clue how to shoot the kinds of things they were shooting with studio lighting etc, so I thought I would give it a go, and the ‘having a go’ is still going on now.
Sinical Magazine: Who are some photographers that inspired your work when you first started?
Frankinsella: One of the earliest encounters with Fetish photography I had which inspired me was the photography of Doris Kloster, more recently I have loved the work of Alejandra Guerrero.
Sinical Magazine: What type of camera equipment do you use?
Frankinsella: I use an Olympus OM-D Compact System Camera.
Sinical Magazine: What type of lenses and focal length do you prefer for portrait work?
Frankinsella: I mostly use the Olympus pro primes – they do some fantastic f1.2 primes which are basically equivalent in field of view to 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses on a full frame camera. My favourite focal length to use, even for fairly close portraits is the 35mm equivalent, I feel that shooting slightly wider angle brings drama and energy to shots. The ability to shoot with a wide aperture helps in working with continuous light in dark locations and with getting flare effects.
Sinical Magazine: When creating a composition what is your main focus?
Frankinsella: My main aim with my composition is to bring the viewer’s attention to the subject and create something visually interesting shape wise. As I have go more experience I am much more aware of the background now than when I first started and I often use light flare to obscure unwanted details round the edge of the shot / create a vignette effect which focussed on the subject. Shooting female subjects I generally like to show them as strong, I work with a lot of Dominatrixes for example, so I try to use composition to emphasise this.
Sinical Magazine: How much planning goes into a shoot?
Frankinsella: Most of the time fairly light planning, I tend to discuss location and broad styling / theme with the model ahead of the shoot and then adapt what we are doing to the outfits the model has and what the location has, particularly when shooting somewhere I haven’t shot before. Shooting in places where I shoot regularly sometime I plan a bit more, during the lack Covid lockdown I went really to town planning out my first shoot after the lockdown lifted, buying all sorts of props and things for the shoot online.
Sinical Magazine: Do you work with continuous lighting or flash lighting?
Frankinsella: I mostly use continuous lighting, particularly ring lights. I started with one of them because it was inexpensive and versatile and now I have got quite a few different ones including a 4ft wide one from Australia which I have been using recently. I do also use Flash in studios that have it though. A single battery powered ring light and stand that I can easily carry on a train has been what I have used for quite a few shoots.
Sinical Magazine: What are some lighting set ups you like?
Frankinsella: At Sanctum Southampton which is one of my main go to places to shoot as it is quite local to me and an amazing space to shoot in I love working with mixed lighting – using the natural light through windows, the ambient light from the light fittings inside and complementing these with continuous light. Having ring lights where you can change the colour temperature means you can blend the added light with either the colder light from outside or the warm light from the interior lighting. I like to use a crystal to get in-camera flare effects from the light around me too which have become a bit of a signature look for my shots.
Sinical Magazine: Can you talk about some of the different filters you use to achive the visual effects in your photos?
Franinsella: I just use the same piece of crystal glass for all the flare effects – holding it differently relative to the lens and ring movements can really change the effect. I experimented with various things like prisms and tinsel until I found something I liked the effect of best.
Sinical Magazine: Has it been more difficult for you to shoot new photos during the pandemic?
Frankinsella: Definitely, in the UK we have been in and out of lockdown restrictions where we haven’t been able to shoot in person which has been a bit frustrating, and we have had to be much more careful with Covid precautions when we have been a been to shoot than before the pandemic.
Sinical Magazine: How have you kept yourself inspired and creative during the pandemic?
Frankinsella: One thing I did have a go at during lockdown to keep creative was Remote Shooting which is a completely different way of working but very rewarding, as it meant I could still create new images even in lockdown. For anyone not familiar with this Remote Shooting involves taking remote control of a camera (could be a tethered DSLR or even a good phone) over the internet to capture images. Typically you also have a zoom chat or similar to communicate with the model you are shooting to direct them. Remote Shooting has a lot of challenges, the model has to do lots more of the process like moving and adjusting lights which a photographer would normally do and building rapport over a video call is more difficult than face to face if it is someone you haven’t worked with, but the rewards to creating new images in lockdown were great. Typically with remote shooting I would put a lot more effort into detailed discussion and planning ahead of the shoot to get the best results, but it is amazing what you can achieve, and you can work with people all over the world this way. |