Terry Cyr

Approach

I started in film, more than twenty-five years ago, back when you had to get the light right before you pressed the shutter because there was no way to check afterwards. That habit never left. Lighting, styling, composition and framing are still where nearly all the work happens, and the editing afterwards is mostly tidying.

Before this I designed theatrical lighting and stage managed, which is a useful thing to have done. It teaches you that light is how an audience is told where to look and how to feel about what they are looking at. I photograph actors, dancers and musicians as well as business people, and the same principle covers all of it.

Nothing starts with a camera. We talk first, about where the picture is going and who needs to recognise you in it, because a headshot that does not look like you is no use to anybody. The studio is on Wylie Avenue with a dressing room, a mirror and a sink, and there is a garden outside for when the weather is better than the backdrop.