The Question, October 29, 2012

Picture Perfect
by Estelle Rosen

Joseph Ste. Marie is a graduate of Dawson College's Professional Photography program and Vanier College's Communciations program. He was the recipient of the Spirit of the Fringe award at 2011 St. Ambroise Montreal FRINGE Festival, and has since performed in the Montreal Shakespeare Theatre Company's productions of Titus Andronicus (2011) and most recently Macbeth. Over the past few years, he has put his D.E.C. in Photography to good use by photographing the QDF's calendar launches, the Montreal Improv Festival (MPROV), the 2011 Montreal Sketch Comedy Festival, Freestanding Room's Maydays 2012 and has done press photos for Blackbird (Shadowbox Productions) as well as the press & poster image, rehearsal and show images for Macbeth (M.S.T.C.). He has also taken improv classes through Montreal Improv and at Theatre Ste. Catherine, and has taken acting classes at the M.S.O.P.A and currently at I.O. Acting Studio.

What makes the difference between a good theatre shoot and a bad one?

To me a good theatre shoot has always been about capturing the moment, capturing the facial and the best physical expressions of the performers whether it's a dramatic scene or a comedic scene, without that it's just not worth presenting.

Lighting is always a key issue especially when the action is fast-paced because if you don't get a good light source, all you get are blurry shots and even if you do get them in focus, you'll run the risk of getting a lot of colour noise on your pictures. Never use flash. Not only is it distracting to the actors, in addition the results are not good if you use the pop-up flash on your camera.