Bob Parent's first camera that he used in the jazz clubs of New York was a 4x5 Speed Graphic. It is also known that when he first started, he used a flash held in his left hand as far off camera as he could reach. Although most photographers who used flash with a Speed Graphic had it attached to the side of the camera, the flash was triggered by an external wire that ran from the shutter mechanism on the lens board to the flash. How far off camera the flash could be used was limited only by the length of the cord.¹

Parent later created a portable constant light source that was less intrusive and more tolerated in the dim clubs. Eventually he was able to shoot with no supplemental lighting whatsoever. But that was much later than 1953, when the photo in question was taken.

The referenced photo was created in 1953, near the beginning of Bob Parent's documentation of the jazz scene in NYC. It appears to have been taken during the time Parent was using flash. Whether flash or constant lighting, an examination of the photo indicates the light source for the photo was much brighter than any ambient light in the room.

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The heavy shadows confirm that there was a single light source above camera left that was much stronger than anything else in the room. No perceptible light is emitting from what appear to be light fixtures. The lack of any audience in the photo suggests he may have been able to get them to pose either before the club opened or after it closed. Or maybe he caught them going through a few bars of something they planned to do before the show?² I've often seen improvisational musicians who haven't regularly played with one another quickly go through the transitions or other key passages of a piece during sound check.

It is certainly true that today we can stretch ISO far beyond what was conceivable back in the 1950s, even with large or medium format film. It is also true that as the technical capability of our recording medium has been raised, so have expectations. We're now routinely expected to catch performers in mid-leap in settings with not much more light. Now, as then, it's up to the photographer to push the technological limits of the medium one is using to capture shots that others can't quite match.

Shots such as this are also still incumbent on having access to scenes by cultivating relationships with performers and those who manage the venues in which they perform.

• If musicians know you're conscientiously being no more intrusive than you must
• If they know you'll 'get the shot' and then get out of the way when allowed the opportunity
• If they know you'll 'deliver the goods' with high quality work that presents them in a good light³

Then they'll be much more tolerant of your activities than if there is not that type of established trust.

¹ There's a photo of one of Weegee's Speed graphics here with a very long cord that he used to trigger the camera and flash remotely.
² Much of the theatrical work I do is shot at a "dress rehearsal", not at actual performances.
³ Pun intended