DAY 155

PORTRAITS

Colorful

TOBY STEPHENS, ACTOR

After receiving a call from a local London magazine to photograph an up-and-coming actor, I did some research and found out that Toby Stephens was actually the son of Dame Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens, who had become famous in the BBC show Upstairs Downstairs. He was playing the lead in Coriolanus in The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production at the Barbican Theatre. My first instinct was to shoot him in character after the play, then I found out I only had 10 minutes and was not allowed on stage or in the theatre for some reason.

As I walked around the Barbican looking for a location to shoot, I saw him on posters that were all over the place with him in character, screaming and wearing a white shirt saturated with blood from a scene in the play

So what was I going to do to make an interesting portrait? Luckily, I found some planters with bright red flowers and small palm foliage. When Toby arrived I asked him to sit on the edge of the planter, and we made this image. His calm spirit and intense gaze struck me as the opposite of his character, and the blue of his jean jacket complemented his skin tone, and the red flowers behind added the drama. This composition just worked and was later purchased by the National Portrait Gallery. —SA