Published
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 5:08 pm
I have a hobby next to photography and that is music (I play the trumpet). I'm as serious with my music as others here are at photography. I have played in several classical orchestra's, I taught many students how to play their horns and have even conducted a brass band. The last couple of years I have been playing a lot of jazz in big bands and now I'm exploring the art of improvisation.
As you can imagine, I have a lot of friends and acquaintances in the field of amateur/semi-pro music. The friends I make I usually end up in my Facebook friends list, where I do share some of my photographs on. One day, I got a call from a befriended marching band who were looking for a photographer for a groupshot for commercial purposes. They started a small formation for the Christmas season for which they dress up in clothes from the Victorian period. They had contacted a few pro photographers, but couldn't get an appointment in time.
Firstly I declined as I am not a pro photographer and don't have experience in photographing people, let alone in a group. They understood, but a day before the shoot they called again, asking me if I PLEASE wanted to at least give it a try. Who am I to ignore such a plead?
It was an outside shoot. I don't have any gear for light manipulation, other than 1 flash. Luckily for me, there was a fog which diffused the light for me in every possible direction. This was a good thing, as I didn't have to worry about "raccoon eyes" in the shot. The location however, was terrible for me to shoot. It was an old carriage house next to a busy street. I was standing there, on a crate in the middle of the street avoiding all the traffic where I could.
Anyway, this is the final result:
I don't like the image that much. Yes, the clothes give a nice atmosphere, but I cut of their feet, not everyone was looking at the camera and I did something in PP which makes the musicians look a bit like dolls. But, for some reason, they did like it and now the image has been published on 2 local websites and being printed for advertisement purposes...
Christmas luck I guess.
Mark
As you can imagine, I have a lot of friends and acquaintances in the field of amateur/semi-pro music. The friends I make I usually end up in my Facebook friends list, where I do share some of my photographs on. One day, I got a call from a befriended marching band who were looking for a photographer for a groupshot for commercial purposes. They started a small formation for the Christmas season for which they dress up in clothes from the Victorian period. They had contacted a few pro photographers, but couldn't get an appointment in time.
Firstly I declined as I am not a pro photographer and don't have experience in photographing people, let alone in a group. They understood, but a day before the shoot they called again, asking me if I PLEASE wanted to at least give it a try. Who am I to ignore such a plead?
It was an outside shoot. I don't have any gear for light manipulation, other than 1 flash. Luckily for me, there was a fog which diffused the light for me in every possible direction. This was a good thing, as I didn't have to worry about "raccoon eyes" in the shot. The location however, was terrible for me to shoot. It was an old carriage house next to a busy street. I was standing there, on a crate in the middle of the street avoiding all the traffic where I could.
Anyway, this is the final result:
I don't like the image that much. Yes, the clothes give a nice atmosphere, but I cut of their feet, not everyone was looking at the camera and I did something in PP which makes the musicians look a bit like dolls. But, for some reason, they did like it and now the image has been published on 2 local websites and being printed for advertisement purposes...
Christmas luck I guess.
Mark
