FatPocket

A couple weeks ago I did some promo photos for a talented new St. Louis band called FatPocket.  I didn’t know a lot about the band going into the shoot other than the fact that they are a NINE-PIECE BAND.  Actually, they probably told me a lot about the band but that was all my feeble little photographer brain heard: “Nine?  Oh crap.  How in the living hell am I gonna light NINE guys?”.

Well, it wasn’t so hard.  The band rehearses in a cool loft space that happens to adjoin a former photo studio (complete with a full cyclorama wall!) so things could have been worse.  After a quick walkthrough of the site, we came up with three setups and got to work.

Setup #1

A basic shot of the guys lounging in their rehearsal space.  The shoot took place on a cloudy, hot Sunday afternoon and when I arrived most of the guys were contentedly sitting around sipping beers and critiquing the previous night’s show.  The last thing I wanted to do was walk in, crack the whip and harsh their buzz.  I’ve been on the other end of that approach when being photographed for my bands and it’s no good.  Instead, I took the opportunity to set up a couple lights and shoot some casual shots while getting to know the band.

“Oh, you’re a funk and soul band?  Sweet!  Tell me more.”  Turns out we have a LOT in common and know a lot of the same players around town.  Yet another benefit of being a music photographer AND a working musician.

Cyc Out

After we had the ball rolling, the band made a wardrobe change for some high key portraits in the adjoining studio.  I was astounded to find that it had a full blown cyclorama installed and quickly set to work exploiting the seamless white background.  I put up two speedlights in shoot-through umbrellas to blast the background with white light, then I busted out my AlienBees ABR800 ringflash to use as a main/fill light.  We also tried some shots with the ring light only.  It’s easy to spot them: the background is gray and there are telltale halo-like  shadows surrounding everyone.  By simply turning off the background lights and moving in close I was able to give the band a completely different look.  Variety is good, especially when it doesn’t require a ton of work.

Going Up?

The rehearsal space is also equipped with a massive freight elevator.  This thing was huge; easily big enough to park a Hummer in or, better yet, a nine piece funk band!  Strangely, there are windows in the elevator shaft as well.  Not exactly a bad thing though, since the would help keep the freight car from being a blackened box.  Once we had everyone in the elevator though, I realized that lighting them evenly would be tricky.  There was no way to hide auxiliary flashes in the back of the car, so I clamped a bedsheet to the camera end of the car and fired three strobes through it–essentially making one end of the car a giant softbox to counteract the window light at the other end.  Yeah, I totally stole that idea from Joe McNally.

Now if I could just steal some of his talent.

Need photos for your band?  Get in touch.  From solo artists to NINE PIECE BANDS I can do it all.  Hell, I’m gonna see if the local symphony needs some shots now.  I love a challenge.