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Rangefinder Magazine
Features/January 2002
A Portrait of Don Blair by Kim Brady
For More than 60 Years, “Big Daddy” Has Set the Standard
in Professional Photography
It was a night of celebration and ceremony—a time when good friends
gather to share in their achievements. Hundreds of professional photographers
were lined up to receive their Master of Photography degrees. Among them
was “Big Daddy” Don Blair, serving as a sponsor for one of the
degree recipients—an honor bestowed upon a single, special individual
who has played an exceptional role in a photographer’s journey toward
this coveted achievement. Don’s natural magnetism had drawn a small
crowd around him—friends and strangers alike—laughing, toasting,
and congratulating one another. I had the unhappy task of trying to keep
them quiet, so as not to disrupt the serious ceremony taking place inside;
but Don would have nothing of it, teasing me mercilessly and insisting
that I join the party. His warmth immediately made me feel like I was
a part of this wonderful fellowship.
That is the gift that Don Blair, a portrait and wedding photographer from
Murray, Utah, brings to his friends and peers—fellowship, affection,
and a genuine zest for life. To the photographic profession, he brings
passion, pride of craftsmanship, and a level of excellence that few will
ever achieve. These are not gifts that Don holds close to his chest, they
are skills that he is willing to share with anybody who is willing to
learn. Over the past 40–50 years, Don has sponsored dozens of up-and-coming
photographers; most of whom say they owe much of their success to the
man who taught them how to “see light.”
“Photography was my first love as a youth,” says Blair. “When
I was 10 years old, my mother bought me a $3.95 processing kit. I would
go into the kitchen or bathroom and turn out all the lights and just watch
the magic. Then, when I was in junior high school, there was a good man
in my town named Ellis Peck who had a combination camera shop and portrait
studio. Every time I passed by his studio, I would ask Mr. Peck for a
job. Each day he would say, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have anything
for you to do.’ Finally he weakened and said, ‘OK you can go
to work. You can sweep floors and wash windows.’ So that’s how
I started my career in photography.”
Peck immediately recognized Blair’s enthusiasm for photography and
began to give him more responsibilities. He started out making 5x7 contact
sun proofs outside on the sidewalk. Soon he was developing film and mixing
chemistry and eventually he was taking portraits and wedding pictures.
“I just kept stepping from one rung to another,” said Blair.
“As time went on I became almost overwhelmed by the profession and
by photography. I was trying to learn everything I could from Mr. Peck.”
As Blair went through high school, World War II was beginning to wage
overseas and he soon answered his call to duty—enlisting with the
Army Signal Photographic Corps. He spent three and a half years in the
South Pacific. “I have to admit that the closest I ever came to taking
pictures was stacking shelves in a warehouse,” said Blair. “Two
weeks before the war ended I was to be transferred to the Air Corps as
an aerial photographer, but it was never to be.”
After returning home in 1946, Blair went back to work with Ellis at the
studio. Soon after, his boss decided to retire and sell his business,
and Blair obtained the help of a friend and a local bank to finance its
purchase. It didn’t take long for Blair’s business and reputation
to grow. He caught the attention of Eastman Kodak Company, which arranged
to publish some of Blair’s prints, and he became one of a few privileged
photographers invited to attend a Kodak training session in Rochester,
New York. There he came to know Vince Thomas, a portrait photographer
who taught him the concept of painting with light—how to give the
picture dimension by adding highlights and shadows, “so you could
literally walk right into the image,” said Blair.
“That’s when I became ‘hung up’ on light and painting
with light,” he continued. “I couldn’t cope with the way
photographers just blasted a subject with light. I felt that if the old
master painters like Rembrandt could add depth and light to a painting
with a paint brush, why couldn’t portrait photographers do the same
thing? In other words if we needed a broad light, why not use a broad
light just like a painter would use a broad brush for painting? And if
we wanted to put some directional light on the face, we could do it with
a narrower light.”
Before they could begin to paint with light, however, Blair believed
that photographers had to learn to “see light.” He explained
this philosophy in a 1982 thesis he wrote on his photographic career:
“A practical demonstration of my concept of ‘seeing’ light
is to envision taking a daytime walk in the park or any tree-covered area
early in the morning. Notice the leaves. You’ll see variations in
the color of the new, bright ones in contrast to the older leaves, variations
you can enhance by camera position relative to light direction… No
matter where you go there is opportunity to examine light and its effects,
whether natural or unnatural, on almost any subject. Constant practice
in seeing light will enable a talented photographer to create professional
and artistic expression when the opportunity arises.”
This philosophy is the foundation of Blair’s work and teachings.
Over the past 60 years he has developed many techniques for professional
portrait lighting and posing, and has produced a number of specialized
products that are designed to manipulate and enhance natural and artificial
light sources. Most basic among them are the use of bare-bulb lighting
in combination with outdoor and window light, directing backlight to add
specular highlights to facial features, and turning the face toward the
main light, while posing the body away from it, so that the light wraps
around the face and falls off to wash subject’s body in shadow.
This very simplified explanation of “painting” with light is
outlined in greater detail, along with many other photo techniques, in
a book Blair co-authored with Skip Cohen, former president of Hasselblad
U.S.A., in 1999, called Body Parts: Don Blair’s Guide to Lighting
and Posing (available from Marathon Press, 800-228-0629).
Cohen, who is now president of PhotoAlley, a successful online photo supply
retailer, said that the idea for the book came from Blair’s students,
who wanted a comprehensive resource of popular Don Blair lighting and
posing techniques. “They wanted to know how Don got his subjects
to relax, how he took someone with a double chin and shaved a few pounds
off them—basically how he made his clients feel good about their
portraits,” said Cohen.
Body Parts is only one of many educational tools Blair produced throughout
his career, including a series of instructional videotapes and a unique
set of boxed prints accompanied by complete lighting and posing setups.
His greatest contribution to photographic education, however, has been
his ability to share knowledge one-on-one with thousands of photographers
at his seminars given worldwide. “I started out teaching seminars
for Kodak and then I began speaking at local, regional, and national conventions,”
said Blair. He’s taught all over the world and despite a recent accident
that resulted in hip surgery, he’s currently booked to present seminars
all over the country for the next two years—three or more appearances
a month.
How can such a busy speaker maintain a thriving portrait business from
the road? Several years ago Blair turned over his studio to his son, Gary,
so he could pursue his educational career. “His real love is teaching,”
said Cohen. “He loves being out there with people. You can get more
in an hour talking with Don in one of his small classes, than you can
get in reading who knows how many books on portrait photography.”
Cohen continued, “What Don has done with so many photographers is
to help them see the way light hits the subject. He helps them use light
to their advantage and teaches them to make each image as good as it can
possibly be on the front end, so they don’t have to ask the lab to
make a thousand and one changes on the back end.”
For a man of his stature and reputation, you might expect Don Blair to
sit back and rest on his laurels. But the teacher in him never overshadows
the student. Cohen recalls one Hasselblad University session when he saw
Blair feverishly taking notes in the back of the room as commercial photographer
Nick Vedros gave his presentation.
“Everybody thinks that at Don’s age (he just turned 76) there’s
nothing else for him to learn,” said Cohen. “But he’s just
as excited about making an image today as he was 25 years ago. And he’s
always embracing new technology. He’s started working with the Kodak
Digital Pro Back in his seminars—projecting the image onscreen as
he teaches.
Blair admits his insatiable thirst for knowledge in his 1982 thesis:
“…I’m humbly grateful that all of these photographers were
so generous with their time and talent. As a good listener I seized upon
the key-notes of their presentations and unabashedly added them to my
own theories,” he wrote.
Despite his decreased studio time, Don Blair’s portraiture continues
to be in great demand. Perhaps it’s because his skills go far beyond
lighting and posing techniques, he is also the master of expression—coaxing
his subjects into a frame of mind that makes them particularly photogenic.
“To set up and take a series of studio shots usually takes me about
40 minutes,” said Blair. “But I always allow a full hour for
a session, just to get to know the person. Often when I’m photographing
CEOs or presidents of companies, their secretaries will call and say they
have only 10 minutes, and no more. I always tell my studio staff not to
disagree with them, but to tell them that 10 minutes will be fine. Then
when the subject gets there, I say ‘Mr. Brown you look so good today,
how about if we try just a couple more images. I’ve never had anybody
say ‘No.’
“I think we fully succeeded if we spend an hour with a client, enough
time to have him fully wrapped in the palm of our hand. We talk about
what a great fisherman he is or his love of sports. I look for that certain
expression in his eyes and make a complete facial analysis. When I have
all of that working, I know I’ve gotten his interest, and I’m
sure to capture a relaxed, complimentary expression.”
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Caption 7
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Caption 8
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As one of his closest friends, Cohen has seen Don’s magic work many
times. “Somebody once asked what would he do with an ugly bride?”
recalls Cohen. “Don replied, ‘There’s no such thing as
an ugly bride.’ That’s Don’s philosophy. I’ve watched
Don and he makes every one of them feel like this is the most important
photograph he’s ever created. And yet, if you asked Don what’s
the best image you’ve ever taken, he’ll say he hasn’t taken
it yet.”
Kim Brady is a writer and editor living in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the
former editor of Professional Photographer and PEI magazines.
Captions:
All photographs were made on a Hasselblad 500 ELX with Kodak Professional
Portra 160 VC or NC film. Close-up portraits were made with a 180mm lens.
1. This high-key studio portrait was photographed with a Don Blair #1
Soft Focus filter over the 180mm lens. Studio lights consisted of main
and accent lights on the model’s right side, an umbrella fill light
from behind the camera, and a minimal hair light in the back. Blair kept
the lighting ratio to (2.5:1) because of the high key nature of the image.
2. Blair created this gold-toned photograph at a seminar in Seattle, using
one of his students as the model. The main and accent lights are both
directed toward the subject’s right side. The accent light is used
to highlight the cheek bone and nose, and to add sparkle to the instrument.
A 4:1 lighting ratio enhances contrast and specular highlights.
3. This classic window light portrait illustrates the use of natural
directional light to “wrap around” the subject’s facial
features. A Don Blair Touch of Warmth reflector adds fill light from the
back. The vase on the window sill was strategically placed to accent the
vertical lines.
4. Illumination was provided by window light with a Don Blair Touch of
Warmth reflector used as fill on the shadow side. The textured background,
made by Off the Wall Productions, adds contrast to an image whose primary
focal point is the smoothly lit skin of his shoulder and cheek plus the
round contours of his muscles.
5. Blair used bare-bulb flash, positioned approximately 8 to 10 feet from
the subject, just out of range of camera. Output matches the f-stop of
the lens, so that the light blends with the ambient light rather than
giving it a harsh snapshot look. Blair used a Lindahl Zoom filter on an
80mm lens, shooting down on the scene from atop a step ladder.
6. This rustic outdoor setting was assembled in a hotel hallway just
outside the classroom of one of Don Blair’s seminars. The background
and window prop are made by Off-the-Wall Productions. The light is natural
window light coming from the child’s left side with a Touch of Warmth
reflector used as a warming fill light.
7. A trademark image by Don Blair, this scene is carefully orchestrated
to accentuate the dramatic effects of a beautiful sunset on a windy beach.
The light is all natural, with no fill or accent lights. The lens is a
40mm wide-angle on a Hasselblad 500 ELX. Like many of his images, this
has won Blair several national awards.
8. The bride is posed under a series of archways, illuminated by natural
outdoor light. A Touch of Warmth reflector helps fill in shadows. With
wrap-around lighting, in which the model’s face is turned into the
light source and the body is turned slightly away, causing the light to
fall off as it reaches the bride’s left shoulder.
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