Portraits
This past Friday was a big deal for me. Based on my prior work, Brad, the lead singer for Mother Grove, asked me to shoot a band portrait. I was very excited about, and flattered by the request. Again, I borrowed gear from my friend, Tony, and even bought some black background paper just in case there wasn’t a suitably cool background at the venue.
According to the Brad’s best estimates, I’d have an hour to shoot the band–after sound check and prior to performing. I was optimistic we’d get something interesting in that time. I had no clue what I was going to do, but I was sure creativity would ooze from the band, and all I would have to do would be to add some dramatic lighting and shoot 3 frames per seconds.
Anne and I arrived at the venue, said hello to the band, then ate dinner. We had plenty of time prior to the sound check, which was fortunate because service was slow. We paid the check, then went back to the band and Brad and I started talking about portrait ideas. We wandered around outside the venue a bit, but ultimately decided a Foosball table near the stage could be interesting. I set up some lights, and started popping test shots as the sound tech arrived, 20 minutes late.
The sound tech was methodical in his work. No problem, I thought. With the lights and framing set up, I’d need like 10 minutes with the band to make the shot. Then came the technical difficulties–one of the mics didn’t work, and one of the monitors was flaky. And did I mention that the sound tech was methodical? According to Brad, this guy really knew his stuff, and I don’t doubt that. I started thinking “emergency shot”–get the band together, even though they weren’t in their stage attire, and try the shot. Unfortunately the bass player was engaged in helping the sound tech resolve the technical problems. And I reminded myself why they were here: to perform. I wanted to take pictures, but that was secondary to their purpose that evening. They finished their sound check at 10PM. They started performing at 10PM. All I had for the portrait was the test shot. I shot their performance the rest of the night, and will post those pictures later.
Rather than leave Tony’s gear unused, I set up my little studio in the basement with the intent of shooting a self portrait. When Anne saw what I was doing, she asked if I would take some pictures of her so that she could update her profile pics. When Emily saw the pictures of Anne, she wanted me to shoot her as well. Then, of course, Nathan followed suit.
Everyone had fun.
Cool beans!