This is a photo I shot for a 944 Magazine photo shoot. This assignment was to shoot this awersome gentleman, Nate, founder of a not-for-profit company called Ear Candy Productions. Their goal is to provide instruments for schools by hosting fundraisers and other similar events.
My editor told me that he wanted me to do this shoot without any instruments in the frame, and not in a music store. After days of deliberation, I was stumped on finding a fun and unique idea until I saw a scene in the Zach Braff film, Garden State. The scene was of Braff wearing a shirt patterned exactly like the wallpaper behind him and I thought it would be a neat effect to replicate with a more specific pattern.
My assistant, Kyle DeBruhl, and myself starting setting up three hours before the shoot by printing off 50 sheets of music off of the web, and double-sided taping them to my living room wall. The piece of music that we used is some sort of rights-free Russian symphony piece that I found on Google images the night previous.
Nate arrived at my apartment and was full of energy and enthusiasm towards my concept. We fitted him in my suit jacket that we fashioned with the music and got started shortly after some minor wardrobe rips and malfunctions. So it goes…
I set up two flashes flanking Nate high and behind, both bouncing off of large silver-lined umbrellas as my main lights, and an Alien Bees B1600 through a large soft box as my fill. I shot this photo with my Canon 20D and 17mm-85mm lens at about 35mm.
