Scott Fincher also gets credit for starting me on the quest for “quality light” (see previous post). At first I had no idea what this meant. I could though see that there was something extraordinary about two of his photos. When I asked what made these two images so special he answered with the cryptic quality light explanation.
I may have nodded my head as acted as if I understood what he meant when in reality I didn’t have a clue.

We have recently reconnected and Scott reveals his lighting source and his process of making these two photos.
‘About the light: In the truncated legs photo the source was intense midday light reflected into a structure where the young woman sought shade. It was made in Mississippi when I took a long road trip with a hundred rolls of Tri-X and destinations pulled out of a hat on the news desk of the Sun-Times.
The other pic, which I call “Iago” after the character in Shakespeare’s “Othello,” was shot under strong afternoon daylight. I had been swimming and was walking home. At that time, I always carried a camera (Leica M4). There were some kids who had been to the snake house at Lincoln Park Zoo and acquired the skin shed by a growing snake. We bantered, and I shot. I can’t say that at the moment I consciously recognized the relationship of forms and textures. I was just “into it.” The kids were having a grand time flipping the shedded skin. I was having a grand time shooting it. Texture was and is an important thing to me. Timing counts too and perhaps is everything.”
 At that time I was still struggling with the supplying the correct quantity of light to the film. Remember this was the days of film; there was no digital preview. I was lucky to have a camera with a new fangled, built-in light meter.
Much like Robert Pirsig in his classic quest for quality in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. My mission was to discover what quality of light was and how learn how to find it and later create the light.
What once was an exercise of learning the difference between front-light and backlight, sunlight and shade I slowly learned to look for the catch-light in the eye of the model on magazine covers for clues. I later started to watch movies and TV shows with an eye for how the stars were lit as much for the plot.

In this night-time photo of a USC cheerleader you can see both the catch light in her eyes as well as the strong backlight of the stadium lights on the opposite side of the field.
One way to see low and high quality lighting is to quickly switch between a daytime soap opera (especially the Spanish language ones) and a movie channel. The soaps are stuck in time and have short shooting schedules that don’t allow for the refinement of lighting on the set. Whereas most movies have both the action and lighting crafted around one camera and possess the luxury of time, crew and tools to perfect the light.
The lone photographer working alone in the world needs to learn how to see quality light in the wild. Ernst Haas believed that he could find good light at any part of the day “ he didn’t need to shoot only at sunrise and sunset. He had the ability to follow the light. He could shoot indoors or in open shade at high noon or backlit in mid-morning and afternoon. Different color temperatures and harsh or soft light in his hand “were all part of the effect” as he would say.

Ernst Haas leading a seminar I attended in Los Angeles in 1982.
Once you learn to see the light, you can them move to the next step of making quality light with hot light or studio strobes. I teach a class on this from time to time at the Julia Dean Photo Workshops. We take a field trip to the multi-angled Frank Gehry designed Disney Hall where just about every background is spectacular and the lighting formula changes every time you turn the corner. You can sign up for the weekend if you’re in Los Angeles in November, or just visit Disney Hall yourself. The exterior and most of the interior is a public space.

Disney Hall bathed in special opening night lighting.