Matt Dillon – June 11th 2015 (Upscale embedded with SynthID)

The Gear

Lens: Nikon 85mm f/1.4

Camera: Nikon D4

Settings: 1/160, f/1.8, ISO 1600 (estimated)

Lighting: Off-camera Nikon Speedlight, bare, camera left

The Goal

Grab a quick portrait of an Oscar-nominated actor during a morning press conference in the Fourth Estate.

The Vision

The Fourth Estate at the National Press Club was one of those in-between spaces… technically a restaurant that would flip to an event room when they could book it or when other rooms were full. The wood-paneled walls gave me a warm background with some texture, though the recessed ceiling lights were the usual challenge. People always seem to stand directly under them, and that harsh downward light creates dark raccoon shadows around the eyes.

For this portrait I had him seated, which helped avoid the worst of the overhead lighting. I positioned a bare Speedlight to his left for the main light… direct flash, nothing fancy. The little rim light you see on his right side isn’t from anything I set up. That’s actually the natural spill from those recessed ceiling lights that usually cause so many problems. For once they worked in my favor, adding a subtle highlight that separated him from the background.

I had options where he was looking directly at camera, but I wanted to try something different. The side-lit look with his gaze off-frame felt more contemplative, more honest to the weight of what he was actually there to discuss.

The Story

Matt Dillon wasn’t at the National Press Club on June 11, 2015 to promote a film. He was there to talk about what he’d witnessed in the Rohingya refugee camps in Myanmar… one of the first celebrities to spotlight the crisis.

He’d visited the camps at the request of Rohingya activist Thun Khin during an Asian promotional tour for his TV series “Wayward Pines,” and what he saw changed the trajectory of his trip. At the press conference, he described the situation as “ethnic cleansing.” He told the room that during his visit, he’d encountered no aid workers and was at one point told to turn off his camera and leave. He spoke of people trapped in miserable conditions, denied basic rights, stateless in a country where their families had lived for generations.

Michael Gabaudan, President of Refugees International, joined him on the panel. The Fourth Estate was half-full with journalists and cameras. It was a 9 AM event… not a packed ballroom luncheon, but a working press conference about a humanitarian catastrophe that wasn’t getting enough coverage.

I’m a fan of his work… Something About Mary, Crash, The Outsiders… so I was hoping to grab a portrait during some downtime. He was down to business, in and out as quickly as possible. No receiving line, no photos with attendees. When I asked for the shot, there were enough people around that he couldn’t easily decline… not that he was rude about it, just clearly ready to move on. I was grateful he agreed.

There was a moment I witnessed that stuck with me. A Press Club employee asked him for a selfie and he kind of just… kept talking/walking. She said “wow” out loud, clearly taken aback, and he heard it. He stopped, came back, and graciously took the photo with her. It was decent of him to circle back. But I’ve always found it a little strange when staff at these events ask for selfies. He probably didn’t know she worked there, but still… celebrities deal with enough of that from the general public. When you’re there in a professional capacity, it seems like something you’d skip. They’re working. You’re working. The dynamic should be different.

One thing I’ve noticed about high-profile celebrities: they often have handlers whose job is to be the bad guy. The celebrity stays gracious while someone else turns down the requests. It makes sense… you don’t want to ignore people, but you also can’t say yes to everyone. So you hire someone to handle the nos. It’s practical, even if it changes the dynamic of how you get access.

The Lesson

Environmental light that usually works against you can sometimes become an asset. Those recessed ceiling lights I normally spend energy avoiding actually provided a subtle rim light that improved the portrait. Context matters. Side-lit portraits with gaze off-frame can communicate something different than direct eye contact… sometimes more appropriate for the subject and the moment.