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Tasoulla
By nealejames | February 28, 2008
The setting was a superb restaurant in Camden called Gilgamesh. I’ve certainly never set foot in a restaurant quite like it; I’ve certainly not seen bespoke wood carving of the quantity and quality on display in an eaterie. Trust me, I’m a man who likes his food - so it takes something for the furnishings to affect me quite the way Gilgamesh did. The influences are a real mixture of Far East meets Goa meets… and so on. The restaurant was bathed in a mixture of soft pin spot illumination and natural light from large windows looking out on to Camden’s famous market, some of which sadly disappeared under a blanket of flames only a fortnight or so ago. I knew instantly that I would be setting the strobe units aside that I had brought along, to favour utilising the natural and artifical light offered up by the location.
The shoot was to build musician Tasoulla’s pictorial portfolio. Her voice is rightly described as ‘youthful Bassey’ with the range and pitch Mariah boasts. She’s got incredible presence on camera and to be fair, did not need too much direction. As a photographer, I work in a somewhat more subtle way than some of my peers. There’s no right or wrong way, there’s just ‘my way’ when I photograph. It works for some snappers to bark orders at their subjects. I prefer mature reassurance, where between capturing each frame you’ll look up and comment on how good the images are turning out, or how well the subject is ‘performing,’ without the requirement for me as a photographer to dance across the set like a Whirling Dervish, shouting “BELLISSIMO BELLISSIMO!!!”
Incidentally, Tasoulla was that close to being the voice behind the Bond theme for Casino Royale. A little birdie tells me that we should watch this space for the next time!
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