Okay folks, just a quick one. And I really mean it this time ;-)
The nice, totally laid-back and not to mention immensely talented & handsome fellows who, together, form the musical five-piece The Big Four paid my little studio a visit the day before yesterday in order to do a shoot for their upcoming album titled ‘The Congregation Sessions’.
A tiny bit of info on The Big Four. They’re a five-piece, two lads hail from Belgium and the other three from The Netherlands. The Big Four are into Jazz, Roots and R&B. Check their MySpace at your leisure.
Anyway, the guidelines were as follows: ‘low key’, ‘portrait’, ‘black & white’, ‘closeups’, ‘dark shadows’, ‘personality’. Which sounds pretty specific to me. So after a couple of coffees, some pleasant banter about musical styles, gigs in the UK, instrument preferences, the merits of shooting nude models and event organisers that are always on a tight budget, we started shooting and after two hours of work the lads chose the following portraits as their final ones:
Dr. Basie J, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100
Mo Gomez, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100
Franky Gomez, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100
Bird Stevens, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100
JB ‘Hurricane’, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100
So whaddya think of my first real studio session? ;-)
I’m pretty satisfied with the end result, and so was the band. They liked the coffee too: mission accomplished. If you prefer doing a bit of wanking to some hi-res samples, be my guest and click on the images for a bigger version.
I decided to add them to our personal hall-of-fame. Everyone entering my house, yes that means you too Bernie, anybody entering my house will be shot and nailed to the wall with a thumbnail mwahahaha.
The dreaded Melvinkobe Wall of Fame – beware of the evil polaroid shooter
So anyway, what’s left to write about? Oh, maybe one more thing: if any of you are interested in buying a Voigtländer Color Skopar 21mm f/4.0 including an M-bayonet adapter: I’m selling a brand-new specimen over on Ebay. Note me if you require details. Here are some shots:
Originally a nice Christmas present from my lovely partner-in-crime, I received her consent to sell it in order to buy something… err.. similar yet different. You’ll see… :-)
Righto, I have a wedding album to finish. Gawd, I hate fooling around with photographic prints, glue, and thick paper. Dammit Jim, I’m a photographer!
since you asked, the portraits turned out very well. I like the play with shadows a lot, though I would have opted for a little bit softer lighting. but then again, what do I know! anyways, I’d pick out of those 1st and 3rd, but 4th one is the best, to my liking.
wall of fame – the cat is the first one in a row! : )))