For my music portrait photography assignment I have chosen to work with two clients, Ben Sadler and Rosie. They both have different ideas and also have different roles within their music career. Rosie is a vocalist and Ben is a drummer. I have gathered information on their ideas and what they would like from their photo shoot and have decided to compile some more research on them.

Ben would like a shot of him playing his drums in the studio, with something coming off the drums; e.g : dirt, sand or water. Although water is a problem in the studio as it can become messy so I thought using beads might be a good idea as they are easy to clear up and will look good during an action shot. Another idea I had was to use flour/talc powder so when the drum is hit it flies into the air and the light will create a really interesting effect on the powder. I plan to use three point lighting including halo lighting to create a soft atmosphere. Some examples of this are;

 

Coloured paint

Gold Glitter



Flour

Water

 

I really like the idea of having something on the drum because it gives the photo movement, as drum photographs can be a bit plain and boring and sometimes the drumkit takes over the photo. My favourite are the flour ones as it creates a dust also.

Some other drumming photogaphy that I really liked including stills from music videos;

 

 

 

For Rosie's shot she wants to have a male model with her also. She wants to be standing back to back with the man and wants to photoshop some smoke coming from the man, as you can't smoke inside. I thought an interesting idea for this photoshoot would be to use silhouettes or to use lighting to create a certain atmosphere.

Some examples of this are;

Silhouettes

 

Looking at the camera

Man smoking

Sepia tones

 

 

There aren't many examples of a man and a woman stood back to back but you get the idea. I want this photoshoot to feel really raw and intimate. Rosie would also like a location shot at a derelict building. There are a couple of places in Ipswich that I can think of that would be suitable for this shoot. Some examples of derelict photo shoots;

The locations that I thought of for the location shoot:

Waterfront

Next to Dance East at the Waterfront

Church on Upper Orwell street

 

St Clare's church - Chantry

Crane Foundry Ipswich

 

 



Music portrait photography - 2 artists

The first music portrait photographer I have chosen to look at is Ross Halfin, who is a famous and well known music photographer. He started off studying fine art at University and soon realised it wasn't for him. It was when he started to sneak cameras into gigs and taking photos that he realised what he is good at. His photos have been published in Kerrang!, newspapers all over the world, rolling stone magazine and many more. He currently takes photos travelling the world, but his early work is incredible. http://www.rosshalfin.com/
Some examples;


Bob Marley


Rob Zombie


Korn


Stone Sour

His extensive list of clients and bands that he has shot for is very impressive, he's done a lot of work live at shows and then on location also. Amongst all of this he has also done studio shots but prefers locations. If you can think of a band..he has probably taken atleast one photograph of them!

My second photographer is Fin Costello, who is one of Ross Halfin's inspirations. He's an Irish photographer, his career started off when he moved to London and began shooting sports photography for magazines. Over the years Costello has worked with some impressive and influential names in the music industry including Kiss, Mick Jagger, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix and so on. Fin's photograph of Duran Duran was featured on their album Duran Duran in 1981.
biography - http://duranduran.wikia.com/wiki/Fin_Costello
Website - http://www.fincostello.com/menu.html


Mick Jagger


Duran Duran


Robert Plant


Aerosmith

I really love Costello's work because it is all shot on film and has a really grungey, raw feel to it. I think it capture the essence of rock and roll all together very well.

Another type of music photography i'm really interested in is festival photography. When people think of music photography they think of 'rock n roll' and pop stars on stage. When i think of music photography I think of festivals, summer time and everyone having a great time. These photographs are from Paul Underhill who is an event photographer and shot pictures for many festivals.

These are just some examples of his work. Underhill shot photos at a festival that I went to in the summer, Global Gathering. Here are some of my photos from the festival.

Left to right: Nicole, Me, Sarah

About 4am

Face paint

At the main stage

Portrait photography

Portrait photography is one of the most popular type of photography and one of the largest. Portraits can be shot in a studio, outside,candid or with using a model.

Portraits depend on what you want from the photo, whether you want them posed (with or without props also), real life or stills from a certain moment (wedding, etc).

A popular type of portrait photography is Family portraits, here are some of my favourites that I have found.

 I really like this family portrait because it's different and not a typical studio shot. The colours in the background are also really beautiful and match the colours of what the females in the shot are wearing.

This shot is really special. It's an action shot on a set of a family playing with cards. It looks quite Halloween themed. I really like the cards floating in mid air to show that it was a split second caught on film.

This family portrait is shot on location and is really different to what we would normally see of a family portrait as it is quite grungy. I love it how the children are dressed in white, showing innocence and the parents are in black.

 

This is a common style of family portraits in a studio, they are nice and clinical and look good on a wall. I feel they don't have much soul to them though.

My favourite type of portrait photography is action shots, when someone isn't looking at the camera and isn't aware the camera is there (candid). I feel that it gives you a more genuine emotion/feeling than posing for a picture, i particularly like candid street photography;

By Nick Turpin

By unknown

By Burk Uzzle

Burk Uzzle

Burk Uzzle - Woodstock

Here are two examples of my own work where i photographed Sarah Graham. I don't like the black and white photo much, the lighting is a bit too strong and harsh.