A few weeks ago my friend Lisa approached me to take some photographs of 'Krackerjack', an amazing Polish band that she is a member of. Krackerjack were in need of some nice promotional photographs for them to use. Of course I accepted the challenge and went round to the Dom Polski House in Newtown where they practice..
www.polishcommunity.org.nz
The Dom Polski (Polish House) at 257 Riddiford Street, Newtown has served as the physical and spiritual home of the Wellington Polish community since the mid-1960s. In that time, it has served the community faithfully, hosting an uncountable number of performances, dinners, lunches, dances, fairs, meetings and get-togethers. It has hosted many offshoot Polish clubs as well as being the home for the Wellington Polish School for many years.
Lisa sent me through a few images to get the feel of what style of image they wanted. It was great to have a reference for the feel of photos they wanted.
So on Monday night I got to work, arriving early to get a feel of the place and deciding to photograph the band in front of the stage, as on the stage would be really hard to light and would of meant that everyone was squished together.
Here is an image that I took whilst setting up. There is a light off camera to the left near the heater. This light I used as a main/key light, the light on the right (with umbrella) was used to fill in the shadows and the light on the right by the door was being used as a hair/rim light. I was trying to emulate the lighting of the third image (right hand side) that Lisa sent through, and thought I got a similar feel after some adjustments.
Here is an image that I took whilst setting up. There is a light off camera to the left near the heater. This light I used as a main/key light, the light on the right (with umbrella) was used to fill in the shadows and the light on the right by the door was being used as a hair/rim light. I was trying to emulate the lighting of the third image (right hand side) that Lisa sent through, and thought I got a similar feel after some adjustments.
Once all the band arrived, I made some final tweaks and managed to get the feel I was looking for with the lighting. The next step was to get the band in action, but found after I had asked the band to play a piece, that I wasn't getting the vibe of the music through the images as the group were probably concentrating too much on the music. I then requested they just play scales for the photographs, which took the seriousness out of the posing. After various compositions and playing with expressions I think we got the vibe and feel of the group represented in the final images. I really enjoyed this photoshoot with this amazing band.
How did I do?
Please let me know in the comments :)
Simon
How did I do?
Please let me know in the comments :)
Simon
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