Conductor Guillermo Figueroa. San Jose, California. January 22, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Conductor Guillermo Figueroa directing a rehearsal of the Symphony Silicon Valley

This is one of the photographs from my three-year project photographing professional classical musicians. As part of the project, which is now in its second year, I have been “embedded” with the Symphony Silicon Valley (the descendent of the former San Jose Symphony). Most of my photography has been during rehearsals, when I can work fairly freely backstage, photographing musicians in ways that they are not usually seen. Most people have a limited familiarity with classical musicians, mostly seeing them from a distance in performances when they are formally attired. One of the goals of the project is to show aspects of their lives and work that are not seen as often – the rehearsals, what goes on backstage, even what they do between rehearsals and concerts.

There is a lot of photograph in this world! I’m fortunate not only to have the cooperation of this wonderful group of musicians (thanks SSV people!) but to be personally very familiar with this world. My training is in the field of music. At one time I played professionally, and at another point I worked as an orchestra stage manager. So I have developed some sensitivity to music and musicians that might be difficult for other photographers to achieve. Many interesting things happen so quickly that you might not even see them if you did not know to look. The work of the conductor is but one example. From instant to instant the conductor’s facial expression changes, sometimes radically, to both respond to and anticipate changes in the music. The position and motion of the hands and, for that matter, the whole body, conveys important but fleeting cues to musicians. I studied conducting a bit at one time, but I think I have learned more about it in the past two years by closely watching and becoming aware of the visual elements of the conductor’s work. Layered on top of that is the basic photographic need to be constantly aware of light, both in the technical and expressive sense, and how to place the subject in a context that “works” visually. This is a very different sort of work that photographing landscapes, but it is equally challenging and rewarding!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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