"Tableau"? sounds like a chocoate bar!
I first shot a tableau, purely by accident. I loved it! It was years later before I came to understand the art of it, the history of it and the power of it. I confess, it took another year to work out the technical needs of such images.
The most important thing to know is that a tableau is NOT a group photo. It's nothing like the class photo you took back in primary school with that dodgy hair cut. It's not your football team kneeling beside the cup they won for the first time since you smashed the garden shed window. It's not a group picture. You get the idea.
A tableau is, a piece of art! Each person in the shot is a part of the story being told. A whole story in a single image. That's it. Case in point, this image, from our #BREXIT theme, (topical I know). Do you see the 2 faces of the UK? Notice Greece fanning out the Euros? Scotland protesting? All small parts of the same story. Of course, eace event creates its own story, so if you want to be political, we'll accommodate you. But we DO NOT pretend to know the answers or outcome of brexit 2019. Just to be clear.
Some of our themes are focused more on fantasy than philosopy. More practical than politics. More music, less mayhem. Variation, creativity and fun are paramount. There's a lot of fun to be had creating a tableau, and we capture every step and of course the masterpiece.
Every theme we create has the theme at it's core. Followed closely by the beautification of our models, of course. At each event, we invite the models to discuss, create and develop the character they wish to play. Every tableau will therefore be entirely different, even with repeated themes. We like that. You will too.
We found this great video showing tableaux on steroids! But it beautifully and quickly shows what a tableau is. Credits to Simone Calcagni for "Tableaux Vivants - Sutri (VT)"
