Taking Photos During COVID with Small Frye

Small Frye is the working title for local photographer to the clubs, Dwight Clifton. Motif turned to Small Frye to use his photographic wizardry during the pandemic, taking our featured article shot of the various authors who contributed to our February 2021 issue — in a way that was COVID safe, but still looked interesting. We talked with Small Frye about the shoot, and here you can see some behind-the-scenes footage of how he pulled it off. We also discussed the elusive art of club photography.

Motif: So tell me about that shoot. Was it what you expected?

Small Frye: By the time we shot, it was what I expected. It was just the cold that was not so fun. That’s why I’m glad I figured out what you guys wanted ahead of time. How cold was it? By the time everyone showed up? With 20 miles per hour of wind and about 17 degrees. I think it felt like zero. That wind coming off the water was insane. 

I was throwing up the F stop to reduce the depth of field and using a Canon 70, which at 2.8 produces a shallow depth of field. 

Normally, If I focused on just the first person’s face, everyone else behind them would be blurry. And gradually, every foot, every inch, each one would be blurred more, to the point where I don’t even think the person in the back would have a definitive outline other than just being pure blur. 

So I think I threw up the F stop all the way, raising the ISO up just to make sure that they were just in focus. I mean, we have to think about it from the front to the back, even though we only had what, six people? Yeah, that’s 36 feet. 

They were 6 feet apart and I made it look like they weren’t. I recently did that again on another shoot with my friend’s band. 

Motif: So you said you prepared. How did you prepare?

SF: Honestly, I came here already knowing what I wanted to do. The hardest part might have been keeping the camera steady enough, not shaking. I had to have a fairly slow shutter speed, but not so slow that they would blur if they moved a little. They weren’t fidgety — they came in alert, paying attention. That was good. I took one shot to test the theory, with their masks on, and it worked. So then we did a couple with the masks off. I think they wanted the masks back on more because of the cold than the COVID. 

It took about three minutes before my fingertips were like, “I can’t feel the buttons.” At five minutes, my fingers were ready to go full Bernie. I wished I had his gloves. Once I figured it out, every one was really on it and we were done in 15 minutes. Because I already had all the right settings, it came out exactly the way we wanted. I mean, I think one of the ladies was in her 60s. She doesn’t want to be out there in that type of weather.

Motif: I didn’t either.

SF: Well, I knew what I knew what you guys wanted. So when somebody can tell me what they want, I can try to figure out how to get it. It allows me to prep mentally prep to be like, Alright, this is what they need to happen. 

In this case, positioning the subjects 6 feet apart but facing the camera and staggered, with a wide depth of field made them look like they were actually pretty close together.

I started with the right settings and tweaked them a little while we were shooting. I usually don’t like improvising. I’m actually blind as a bat. So when I shoot, I like a tight depth of field. Most of what’s past 15 feet away is a blur to me anyway.

Motif: Wow, I didn’t know that.

SF: Yeah, I have Keratoconus. What does that mean? It’s a deformation of the cornea that kind of warps things. I have a mild chance of losing vision. It’s a genetic thing.

Motif: But, I mean, your vision is what you do.

SF: The camera’s my glasses.

Motif: So, when you go to a club and shoot, you see more clearly through the camera than without it?

SF: Yeah. Depending on how I’m shooting. If it’s with a fisheye, which is one of the main lenses I use in the clubs, it has an infinite focus. And I use it with a flip screen, so I can hold it above my head and look at it just to get the general gist of where it is. Since I’m using a full manual lens, the F stop is how I actually control the exposure. When I blast in the club, I’m in the dark with flashing lights. You can always change. So I usually blast some shots off, and I change the exposure as I shoot. So click click click and I do it. And I tweaked it to catch that shot.

Motif: So you’re rolling the wheel while you’re clicking? 

SF: Yep. Like a shotgun, and then sort it out later, depending on what I see. if I’m in a club and want a shot walking through the crowd, if I know that there’s a ton of people around me, I’ll look up. I’ll hold the camera so I can see the flip screen and have a general idea of where I’m shooting. And maybe 5 – 10 feet away, there’s a group of people dancing in a circle. I can’t see that because there’s people in my face, but the camera can see it from way up. So I can get an idea where I’m going just by looking through the screen. It’s fun. It also helps you navigate… It’s like a periscope.

Motif: Do you dance?

SF: I like dance music. I don’t dance. Voyeurism is my thing.

At one point during, during shooting clubs at Hanley’s Alehouse, it was started by this girl. I don’t remember her name. But she was a shot girl. And she had been working her glutes, you know, doing squats in the gym. I took her picture, and she said, “No, take a picture of my ass.” Mind you, there are 300 people in the club. And I’m like, Alright, so this girl wants me, in front of everyone, to take a picture of her ass. This is my day job. What the f*ck?

So I did. They were very popular photos on Instagram. For nine months after that, girls in the club would ask me to take the normal, “Hi with my friends,” photo and then ask for one more and turn around and say, “Take a picture of my booty.” Wow. And this is my job.