Band: Nimikri

In the spirit of sharing and enriching the blog experience, and because our fans demand it, we're going to be a little more loquacious with each post. Pretty pictures seem to me to be so much more impressive when you're given a chance to understand more. So, from here in, we'll do our best to talk about the why and the how of each photo we post so you learn, and with any luck, become inspired to try some of it yourself.

To kick it off, we have a pretty cool post for you. This weekend I had the opportunity to photograph a band called Nimikri. (www.myspace.com/nimikri) As you can see from their blank myspace page, they're in desperate need of an image (and a bassist and voc alist, send them an IM if you're interested).

Like most good shoots for the beginner photographer, this one started thru the magic of Craigslist. I've been having a run of decent luck there, finding people to photograph on a pretty consistent basis. Not nearly as many people skipping out on me at the last minute like last year *knock on wood*. There really is no excuse to not have a respectable portrait portfolio when there are so many people online looking to trade services and be apart of your project. It's a simple matter of mutual back scratching, and so far, people get that if they're willing to play along with my bizarre photo concepts, they usually go home with some cool photos.

This shoot was no different. Brian had posted on CL looking for a photographer and I was quick enough to the punch to get his attention. Now I had never photographed a band before, but have been looking to break into that market for sometime now (I photographed a female recording artist once, and designed her cd, but that was years ago, and frankly it's not going in any portfolio of mine.) Brian didn't really have any particular vision for the shoot, but he did suggest we shoot in Gary, IN which turned out to be a great c hoice.

Gary, unfortunately, has had it pretty rough for the past, I dunno, 50 years and most of it's downtown area is abandoned, burned-out and in shambles. Included in the ruins is a beautiful 1920's neo-gothic cathedral that sadly was burned out in the 1997 fire that swept thru Gary. I like to get as much info about an area as I can before I wonder out to take photos, and luckily for me, the cathedral is a big attraction for urban explorers and flickr photographers. I was able to see virtually all the angles I could need before I even showed up, helping me a lot with pre-viz for the shoot. I didn't know what the security situation would be like there (nil, turns out) so I wanted to be able to be quick in and out without wasting a lot of time searching for the best photo. My friend Erika and I drove down an hour early, scouted around, and by 1 that afternoon Brian and his guitarist Gabriel had arrived at the cathedral ready to shoot.

I had arrived with two stands, two small nikon flashes, and an umbrella. One thing I've learned is to always have a backup. I had intended to shoot with two lights if possible, but knew I could get by with just one, which has been my aesthetic so far anyway. Good thing I showed up with spare everything too, because the cold weather had frozen my radio receivers so only one was working. Without a back up receiver I would have really been SOL. Armed with only one light therefore, and an umbrella, we got to work.

I felt that the cathedral had way too much character to try to overcome it by heavily underexposing and relying on my flash to bring out my subjects. It seems to be a growing trend that if you're going to make a good photograph you have to kill your ambient or it will kill your photo. I've been doing my own version of very dark portraits, so I'm no stranger to overcoming ambient, but it's only one of many tricks in my bag. In this case I felt that there was simply no need to waste that kind of aesthetic on such an amazingly lit place. Instead I chose to use my flash (sometimes in an umbrella as above, but mostly bare) as a compliment to the natural light.

In this photo, for example, there was so much light coming from behind my subjects through the windows, but also from directly behind me that I only needed a small pop with the flash and umbrella camera right to fill Gabriel and the couch and hopefully try to add some crispness to the subjects' faces. One thing I love about shooting with small flashes is the wide apertures I can still shoot with. I don't believe this shot was incredibly wide, probably more like f8, but I have relied on my small flashes in the past to deliver consistent quality light while allowing me to use wide apertures to create some very pleasing effects.

I knew this photo was going to kill, and I totally think I nailed it. Ok, so I probably should have explored some alternative poses, but we had decided early on that we wanted to go with simple and subdued and let the atmosphere do all the heavy lifting in the photo, so I was pretty ok with the naturalness to their poses. One thing I want to talk about here is HDR. The reason this photo works well is because of HDR, and the reason I think it really works is because it doesn't scream "hey look at me! I'm HDR!!" I love what photography has become since we've all converted in the digital age, but one thing that will be the ruin of flickr enthusiasts the world over is the gross HDR that has made so many potentially beautiful photos just ridiculous pieces of pixel vomit. There are 10 zones in a photo people! Learn to use them. Every time I see an image without a black point or a white point, and a nice curve between the two, I have to scream at my monitor "that is not photography!!"

The Final Shot

The day was getting long and I had hoped to wrap things up by 4 but there was one shot I definitely thought was a must have. Erika and I had scouted this completely decimated retail building just 2 blocks south of the cathedral and while everything about the inside was surreal and amazing photo potential, a sloping driveway into an underground parking area really caught my eye. First of all the angles felt right. Lots of lines all leading back to a a broken down garage door which would provide really nice back lighting. I'm not a huge fan of silhouettes, but I thought it would make a great back-lit portrait none-the less. Everyone at this point was probably a bit tired and ready to bag it and I know I certainly had enough shots, but one thing I've learned is that if you make a plan you need to stick to it. All the reasons I thought this would be a great place for a photo were still legitimate even though I was now much colder and worn out. So suck it up and take the photo. Make it work.

Again, only one flash, no modifier, set to something like 1/16th power and I think aimed slightly to camera left. I took probably 60+ shots of this scene but it just wasn't working. This is literally the last frame on my card:


You just have to suck it up and the photo gods will look favorably upon you.

So there it is. My first trip to Gary, my first band shoot, my first shoot in a decrepit cathedral, and all in all a great time. Thanks to my friend Erika for being a great assistant and big props to Brian and Gabriel for being totally cool with all the direction I was giving and freezing their asses off in their hoodies while I was nice and toasty in my down jacket.

More work to post. Stay tuned!