Another Definitive Portrait

Choral Director Glenn Draper

In an earlier post I described a definitive portrait as closely related to the editorial portrait, but going deeper, showing not only what the person looks like, but also revealing something about his or her character.

This portrait of the distinguished choral director Glenn Draper was made in my first studio around 1986 when he was at the height of his career. Dr. Draper's accomplishments are truly too numerous to list in one blog post. He was director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga for 30 years, while also heading up the Choral Activities program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He was director of music at the Lake Junaluska United Methodist Conference Center for 55 years and organized and directed choral groups such as the UTC Singing Mocs and the Glenn Draper Singers, which he directed in a performance at the White House while in his mid-80s.

I was transitioning from Kodachrome 64 to Fujichrome around the time I made this portrait and had to dig the original slide out of my files to see which film I had used. It was Fujichrome. I loved the warmth and clarity of Kodachrome, but Fujichrome is also a beautiful film, especially the original RDP100. As you can see.

Fuji eventually won the day because I could get it processed in a few hours at a local lab or process it myself, while Kodachrome had to be sent away to a Kodak lab and had a turnaround time of several days. Over the years I processed thousands of rolls of Fujichrome, using Unicolor or Kodak E-6 chemistry in a Unicolor film drum or later, in a King Concepts film processor.

For this portrait I seated Dr. Draper in front of a blue, seamless paper background lighted by one small flash, and placed a more powerful flash in an umbrella in front and somewhat to his left. (This was before I began using soft boxes.) A reflector on the camera side completed the setup. The camera was an Olympus OM, probably the OM2n, but I don't remember for sure. The lens would have been the Zuiko 85mm f2, my favorite lens at the time.

This was an easy session. Although a man of great accomplishment, Glenn was warm and gracious. Also, I knew him personally, having sung in his choir at First Presbyterian.

As for using 35mm for portraits -- I was doing it in the 1980s and '90s, when 'most every one in my market was using medium format. Around 2000, as I was closing my last studio, another photographer came to look at my space with a view to renting it. He was a dedicated user of medium format and 4x5, and held 35mm in low esteem. Looking at the framed 16x 20 and 20x24 photographs hanging on my studio walls, he would point at one and then another, asking what format I had used. He was somewhat scandalized and almost unable to believe that most of them had been shot on 35mm film. Finally, as he was about to leave, he pointed at one 20x24 portrait and said, "Now you can't tell me that was shot on 35mm!"

"Yes, Doug," I said, as he threw up his hands and left.

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(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone