An Interview With Eric Magnussen: The art of Drag and images - Arsyafin Production

An Interview With Eric Magnussen: The art of Drag and images

RuPaul's Drag Race is the Emmy-successful global phenomenon taking truth television by storm. The demonstrate is in its thirteenth season but boasts several spin-offs together with All Stars, as well as localized seasons in Canada, UK, Thailand, Holland, Spain, and Australia. Drag race, because it is known as through lovers, is a truth competition that challenges contestants to find the drag performer who possesses the excellent blend of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and skill.

Eric Magnussen

Eric Magnussen is the inventive talent in the back of one of the most most iconic drag imagery. He has had work published in Vogue and The Boston Globe. He brings a uniquely punchy eye to his visual creations, that are end result of the a deep collaboration with the performers who take a seat for him.

Eric began images in excessive college as part of a digital editing direction. This changed into enough to pique activity in photography which result in gaining knowledge of at Massachusetts college of artwork and Design. Eric did a semester of photography before realizing that a school environment wasn't for him. He did finish university in industrial design, but determined to pursue images separately.

university did help Eric to hone his imaginative and prescient because the direction wired film photography. He worked greatly in significant layout (which, for a student will also be expensive). This helped him to in fact slow down and take his time, visualize, and plan a shot notably before even taking a picture.

using the apparatus you have got

Eric now works as a part of a studio with other photographers. He finds this has helped him develop incredibly as sharing ideas and ideas and seeing how others work offers a distinct insight into what will also be an remoted occupation. As photographers, we work with different creatives and non-creatives; but it's a great deal rarer to look how different photographers work.

discovering on a simple degree [of gear] truly teaches you to drag out the entire stops that you may. I suppose it's helpful to now not have essentially the most gadget and essentially the most cash going into it. It forces you to study.

It's wonderful to have equipment, nonetheless it's a great deal greater crucial to invest the time to be trained what that piece of apparatus can do.

recently (and with a extremely small bit of input from me, so I take full credit), Eric bought an 85mm lens. He's basically enjoying seeing what this creates but ultimately, he keeps his equipment fairly confined. He has just a few studio strobes and is a large fan of the usage of v-flats. He does agree that having excellent equipment you have got invested in is critical to an extent though; buy equipment you absolutely need, as opposed to buying gear you just need.

"Ru women" and native Queens

although Eric is entrenched in a specific subsection of media and amusement images, his counsel regarding the enterprise of images may also be utilized more extensively. From a business point of view, paintings and commerce are complicated to balance. He confesses that working with creatives who've a big platform is validating (even if that validation skill being featured in Vogue or having mega-stars akin to Miley Cyrus see his work). For his artwork, he finds participating with people who inspire him to be paramount, regardless of the dimension of their social following.

as an instance, his collaboration with Utica changed into recently shared on Vogue. This took place via Utica's crew; besides the fact that children Eric's contribution and vision to growing the pictures can't be discredited, the recognition the images bought became extra in response to Utica's public platform. This public platform, for many queens, is larger after they have got looked on RuPaul's Drag Race. they are a "Ru lady."

With drag queens there's this extra layer to it. And it's pleasing as a result of there's a whole different story being instructed.

Eric takes every shoot as a chance to create his most beneficial work. He finds that he encounters distinctive artistic challenges depending on even if he's working with a Ru lady or a "native queen." for example, with Ru ladies, a big problem is frequently the logistics that include working with bigger productions or working with skill who may also only have a couple of minutes to execute some thing large. native queens are as equally passionate and creative as Ru women. besides the fact that children, they might not have the funds to pay for a huge creation: so, the problem there's to channel that creativity to do it yourself (DIY) to make it seem to be pretty much as good on a smaller funds.

To clarify, Eric turned into strict to assert that all "Ru ladies" were once native queens. They all the time had that creativity and skill within them. simply as these queens who haven't been on the exhibit are proficient and inventive and have their interesting element of view to present. It's no longer about one type of entertainer or an additional, but reasonably building a sense of group through which that you may channel whatever creative and exquisite.

one of my favourite photographs which Eric has authored is of Utica. besides the fact that children I didn't ask him the price range for that, the graphic looks pretty elementary but extraordinarily inventive (a golden curtain and some make-up!). what's paramount is having a inventive imaginative and prescient and executing that — every little thing else is secondary to imaginative and prescient.

manner

Eric notably plans his shoots. every graphic is built to be that photo. He starts off with a conversation with the performer and may plan what "looks" (which consist of wigs, makeup, and garments) the performer may bring to a shoot. each and every seem to be and the energy of the performer feed into the closing photo in an intuitive approach.

I used to type of be like, 'you comprehend, deliver some thing you desire.' after which I had a couple of shoots the place, you recognize, this isn't working. love it's no longer searching the style i used to be envisioning. chiefly should you be aware of famous drag queens and you recognize the best of the most suitable stuff that they've carried out.

Now he plans the looks by means of soliciting for options after which plans the total photo and lighting fixtures round that. When he sees an outfit, that acts as a catalyst for what he desires to create. This instinct is a made of the journey and time that he's put into photography. It's a practiced instinct in what's flattering and what is not.

photographs courtesy of Eric Magnussen.

Eric's work tends to have specific lighting and he himself has a particular imaginative and prescient for his work. he'll create images with performers who reach out to him; however for tasks he ideates himself, he tends to pitch a concept specific to the performer he desires to collaborate with.

i love makeup and i love when it doesn't must be too touched up. as a result of that's the place that you could wander off in enhancing and it takes away from the first-class of the picture.

usually, he finds that performers "paint for the stage" so his personal work reflects this. lighting is the hardest aspect of photography. It really is a giant obstacle. As a photographer, it is your job to create the gentle you envision. You certainly not get decent at lighting, you only ever get superior than the closing time. He tends to make use of a single light on the performer positioned specifically, with Cinefoil, to imitate a highlight on the stage.

here's anything I haven't thought about in so lengthy since it has develop into my fashion. That stage light. here's your one gentle. Play into it. that you can tell when a person is capturing a drag queen and has certainly not shot a drag queen before. They require a really selected sort of lighting.

Drag make-up, Eric highlights, has an artistry to it. Drag queens are painting to create a new face. lighting which could work with this in a method that highlights the transformation simply satisfactory is best. You want to cover just sufficient and reveal simply enough to additional the illusion.

Drag performer Jujubee.pictures offered by means of Eric Magnussen.

this way of lights topics does yield harsh shadows on the history, certainly for full-size images. These shadows used to trouble him, but he has begun to embody that as part of his process and use them as a part of the composition. The discipline should appear fantastic, but the shadow needs to seem to be brilliant too. The shadow is not an afterthought, but rather part of the composition. however, he will commonly additionally fashion the set in a way that shadows aren't created; or he'll use gels and spotlights on the background to fill in shadows.

Conclusion

You should have imaginative and prescient and also you should observe with each shoot so that you should improve for the subsequent one.

I'm all the time trying to find that, like, perfect shot. I'll be happy with work I create, but i know, 'good enough the subsequent time i will be able to try this.' I'm at all times going to do that continually. it's going to at all times be me chasing after the ultimate photograph i will do.

For Eric, the pursuit of the next superb shot is what drives him. He enjoys the images he creates and entirely appreciates the drag performers he works with, however each photoshoot is comfortably a gaining knowledge of opportunity to plot the next shoot. there is always room for boom and improvement and to try a new idea or lights method or theory. in this approach, Eric thoroughly is in consistent praxis together with his work.

pictures used with permission of Eric Magnussen.

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