First blog post! Whoop! Whoop!
I wanted a place where I can post some of my less glossy work and talk more about the process behind concept shoots and how things actually get done, so here we are.
It’s funny how shoots come to be sometimes. I got a call a couple months ago from a guy named Shawn, who is in a band. He was quick to say that it wasn’t a freebee and that he wanted to do rad shit.
I asked him how he found out about me and he said that the drummer in his band found me through the shoots I’ve done with Weezer. Shawn comes from an Ad Agency background and knew the process.
His original idea was to drive to Las Vegas and shoot at the Neon Museum (aka Sign Graveyard). He also had the idea to somehow stick “Jackalope heads” over the band member’s privates. Hmmmmm.
Time went by and the graveyard thing was a bust due to a temporary shut down. Shit happens and you gotta be ready to roll with whatever reality you’re dealing with at the time.
Shawn and I met up for coffee and quickly came up with a new plan. I said “Hey, let’s get a big piece of wood, cut some holes in it and fuckin’ stick y’alls heads through it.” And… “We can buy a piece of linoleum and pant it.” And… ” I live on a mountain so we can shoot the Jackalope shots there!” He loved it so BAM! we were set.
Day before the shoot Shawn and I met up for “Arts and Crafts.” It’s super fun to come up with interesting ideas but then you need to do the work to make those ideas come to life and that takes time. We cut some slits/holes in the wood with a jig saw, my kids painted the background and we scouted the Jackalope location. It’s important to figure things out and pick your locations ahead of time. The weather was perfect and we were feeling good.
Next day it is raining and cold. Not exactly what we had planned for. Forgot to check the weather. The painted linoleum was outside so we definitely wanted to get those shots before the rain started coming down harder – it was a little bit of a struggle but we did it.
Shawn had envisioned a killer sunset with strobe for the Jackalope shots but we had to switch gears and go with the flow instead of bumming out about it.
When it came time to shoot the band member’s heads popping out of the wood, I decided to mix strobe with a hard projector light and a longer exposure to get a blurred effect on one side of the faces.
All in all, shit turned out great. We felt good about what we got. Not what was originally planned but it may have turned out even better.
