Denny Henry

The gallery space in the Corcoran can be a fun and challenging environment to shoot in. The main challenge of shooting in the galleries is that the light levels are kept very low to protect the artwork.   The conditions give me a welcome excuse to shoot with my fast prime lenses.  

The image below is from a gallery talk that coincided with the annual all-senior show.  For the talk, a group of about 9 students spoke to gallery visitors about the work that they had in the show.  The talk was interesting for me because I  had seen and photographed all of the work in the weeks an months leading up to the show, but had never heard anything more about it than what was in the artists statements.  

Corcoran Students talking about their work in the gallery.

The Corcoran re-designed their gallery and college websites about a year ago, and their image needs changed with the new website.  The new layout of the website use a lot of narrow horizonal images, and I've been shooting with that in mind. 

The clip below is from the Corcoran's monthly newsletter that has a similar need for long horizontal images. The image is a panorama of the 2010 Corcoran Ball.  If you look close you can see the video camera for the Time lapse , clamped on the right side of the second floor railing. 

Last week I shot a portrait of the director of the Corcoran's library, Mario Ascencio.  I arrived after the library was closed for the day, so that we could use the stacks for the backdrop.  The lighting was a simple two light setup.  In the top photo there is a softbox above the camera, and a SB-800 clamped to the shelves above and behind Mario.  I also put a reflector below the camera to soften the shadows. 

More images after the jump

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I've photographed a number of well knows artists since I've started shooting for The Corcoran Gallery. Chuck Close recently spoke about his life and work, and was one of the artists that was the easiest for me to relate.  When most artists talk about their early careers they may hint at struggles or lean years, but never really delve into specific challenges they faced.  Mr. Close spoke candidly about the challenges he faced both in life and art that helped to form him as the artist he is. One of the large reasons he was speaking so candidly is that he was being interviewed by his friend and biographer, Christopher Finch. Mr. Finch knows Chuck's history and was able to develop the conversation to reveal the history of Mr. Close's life and work, the same way he would in a printed book. 

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Whenever I shoot anythig for The Washington Center here in DC, I seem to find fun outtakes. 

I shot this during a panel lecture on corporate philanthropy.