Tag Archives: images

Friday Box of Links

Here are some links I’m sharing with you on this glorious Friday:

  • Time Out New York has a slideshow on the set of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which just opened here at the Public Theatre. Check out all the work that Jay, Meredith and I did with Donyale Werle and her assistants to transform the theater.
  • Stolloween is a site with an impressive array of Halloween props made entirely out of papier-mâché. It also has tutorials and process photos.
  • Courtesy of Jesse Gaffney is this article about building fewer cages and dropping more keys. Basically it sums up (much more eloquently) a lot of the reasons why I started this blog; by sharing what I do, what I know, and what I learn, I hope to help everyone reach the next level of skill so we can all create better work.
  • LUNA Commons are a collection of hundreds of thousands of historical images and items from institutions and universities from around the world. If you need a reference image of an “I Like Taft” necktie or a seventeenth-century map of the world, you can find it here.

Wednesday Link-i-mage

This week, we have a visual link-o-rama, focusing on sites with vintage advertisements, posters, and other ephemera. Sometimes, you need to find historically accurate ads for props, other times, you can use them as research sources for your period.

Vintage Advertising group on Flickr

A sprawling hodgepodge of advertising and packaging pictures.

Sprite Matchbook Art, 1960s
Sprite Matchbook Art, 1960s, originally uploaded by Roadsidepictures

Vintage Ad Browser

A very large and very organized repository of ad images.

Budweiser is a friend of mine
Budweiser is a friend of mine, originally uploaded by fidgetrainbowtree

Vintage Ads

A stream-of-consciousness parade of advertisements throughout the years.

Woodbine Blend Dry Cider
Woodbine Blend Dry Cider

The Nifty Fifties

Ads, posters, and photographs from the 1950s.

1951 - Science Discovered It
1951 - Science Discovered It, originally uploaded by clotho98

Props in the last century

I just wanted to share some great old prop photographs I’ve come across on the Life photo archive hosted on Google. Remember, it’s also a great place to find primary photographic research since the invention of photography.

© Time Inc., by Allan Grant, 1956
© Time Inc., by Allan Grant, 1956

Look at the amazing craftsmanship it took to create these miniature human figures.

Continue reading Props in the last century

Retro Decorating

Marco Polo Motel by Curtis Gregory Perry
Marco Polo Motel by Curtis Gregory Perry

In honor of the Mad Men season finale (and since my computer broke and I didn’t have time to write anything lengthy), I thought I’d point out some great mid-century vintage sites I’ve found lately. Of course, Mad Men takes place in the early sixties, and most of what I’ve found is from the 40s and 50s, but it still inspires that period. Additionally, the objects people had in the 50s would still be around in the 60s. With that in mind, here we go:

  • The Retro Planet Museum has a great collection of vending machines, soda coolers, gas pumps, and other items of that ilk with photographs online. They also run the Vintage Vending blog, which has continually updated content about the same.
  • Atomic Addiction is about a couple trying to decorate their house in a completely mid-century fashion. Though somewhat focused on replicas, it also has great resources for researching this era.
  • Retro Renovation is similar in that it is more concerned with using retro inspiration for modern decorating. Still, it points to historical information, and it has great ideas on which vendors offer vintage or vintage-inspired items.

Finding photographs for props

originally uploaded by teotwawki
originally uploaded by teotwawki

It happens in a lot of plays. You need a photograph, either in a frame or not. Maybe it’s part of the story, or the designer just wants it as set dressing. First you need to do all your homework on the photograph, just as you would any other prop. Look for all the clues you can in the script; you don’t want to bring the perfect picture of a child on a beach only to have the actor in the following scene recite the line, “he used to love going to the mountains.”

Is the photograph of someone in the cast or someone who never appears? You have more options if the person in the photograph never appears on stage, and you don’t have to match his or her appearance to an actors. Either way, you have a number of options for getting a photograph onto the stage.

Have one of the actors bring a photograph in

If the photograph is supposed to be of the actor as a younger person, the most realistic option is to have the actor bring an older photo of him or herself. If possible (and it should be possible in your prop shop), you should scan the original photograph and make your own prints. This will keep the actor’s irreplaceable memories from becoming damaged or lost during the production, and will give you the option of resizing it if necessary.

Using an actor’s photograph will also work if the photograph needs to be of the character’s close relative. An older photograph of the actor can be his child or younger brother. Likewise, an actor can use a photograph of her own father for the character’s father.

Take your own photograph

If you know early enough in the process that you will need a photograph of one or more of the actors, you can schedule a photo shoot with them. You can even work with the costume designer and other production people. You will need to talk to your production manager about this, since it will involve other departments, and there are rules governing the photographing of Equity actors during a production.

You can also take pictures of other people at the theatre or your friends and family if they have the right look. You may also wish to approach strangers you see or hire someone to pose for you, though for most productions, this does not make the most sense of time and money.

Use a found photograph

You can find old and anonymous photo albums at flea markets, on eBay, or any of the other usual sources for abandoned objects. Books and magazines are other great sources. Just like borrowing an actor’s photograph, it is a good idea to scan these and print new copies for your play.

You can also, obviously, search for images online. I described a lot of these techniques in my previous article, “How to research.” Found photography can be tricky. The problem is you often want amateur photography rather than professional photography. You also don’t want to use famous or well-known people in a photograph if the subject is meant to be unknown. Amateur photographs of unknown people are much less organized and searchable. In a lot of cases, you just have to luck onto a huge group of potential images and browse through every single one to find the perfect shot.

If you search for “found photographs” on Google, you can easily get sucked in for hours looking at pictures from all decades. At this point I should remind everyone that I am not a lawyer, and while this article tells you how you can find images for your production, I make no claim as to whether you can use them or not. Defer to your production manager, or whoever is in charge of the legal aspects of the show.

Create a composite

If you can’t find or make the perfect photograph for your production, you can combine two or more photos together. You can combine two or more people together, or put people in front of a different background. Before computer-editing software, you could literally cut and paste the photographs together, and then rephotograph the result. It is much more elegant and efficient to do this nowadays on a computer, and it will behoove you to learn how or find people you can delegate this to.

Alter any of the above

If you scanned in the photograph you made or acquired from any of the above methods, you can manipulate it in the computer. You can turn it into black and white or sepia-toned. You can also print it out and use any of your favorite paper-ageing or distressing techniques.