These are the portraits I made of the cast and crew of Cabaret back stage at the O’Reilly Theatre, Keble College. Curtain up was probably around 20mins away so I was very rushed and also very cramped for space. These were done in a corridor at the bottom of the rear stair well, the bright lights facing the camera are lights on the wall. I thought they might look good as a background but they’ve turned out being brighter than I would have liked. I left my spot meter at home so I was unable to make very accurate exposure calculations. Overall I think these turned out well with all things considered. Thank you to everyone below that made time to be photographed.

I’m interested in doing more backstage photography on film so if you’re involved in a project or performance please get in touch.

[Tech info:] Mamiya RZ67 with 110mm lens loaded with Kodak Tri-X film rated at ISO1600. Processed in Kodak HC110 (dilution B, 1:31) for 17mins at 20c.

Cast member

I did a rough retouching job in Photoshop to erase the bright lights in the background of this image and I think it works better without them.

Cast member

Choreographer (right) and assistant choreographer

Cast member