The production of a play requires an immense amount of work, effort, and talent, not just from the actors, but from other artists as well. Choreography, costumes, sets and advertisement are all key components to ensure a successful presentation. Charlie Burr, a ninth grader here at Ashland High school, was able to offer his skills as a photographer to the theater program by shooting the photos used for the advertisements for the production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.
Burr first started photography in December of 2014 when he got his Sony a5000 camera. He says he enjoys how photography can, “capture a moment in time that, otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to remember.”
Amelia Sorenson recommended Burr to Betsy Bishop, the shows producer, and Jessica Sage, the shows director. Sorenson typically is the photographer for the theatre program, but she could not for this production because she plays Helena, a main role in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. Burr had shot a few senior photos so he had previous experience with portraits and he had also learned the techniques of studio lighting from Mr. Prusko. This offer presented itself to him as an opportunity to use his skills.
The photos were shot during an hour long session with the four lead roles, Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena. Burr expressed his surprise at the amount of initiative he got to take. “It was really just me directing it.” Burr was able to experiment with several different poses he had come up with from his research of other productions of A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. He says the first thing he took into account was the actor’s heights so that he could manipulate their positions in order to create the most dynamic photos. Burr likes all kinds of shots, but he especially likes portraits and the way they provoke your mind to be creative with poses and other aspects.
Burr left the post process of the advertisement to Amelia Sorenson who used Burr’s photos, to design an announcement for the play. Burr expressed his pride in the final product and amazement with Sorenson’s work on the poster. He says that he felt like he “really contributed to the play in a meaningful way,” and he would definitely shoot photos for the theater program again in the future.