My son’s band Marlow needed to update their photo files as they had added a new bass player so it was down to thouest to do the deed. My son knew of this old factory that had gone into disrepair and as you can see this proved to be an excellent location. Quite a lot of the roof was missing so there was plenty of light and I ended up swapping a rather complex mutli-light set up for just a single on camera 580 flash with plastic diffuser that gave me the right balance.
This first shot gives you an idea of the voluminous floor space we had at hand. I shot this with a 10-22mm lens on 10mm but obviously filled the frame to take the actual photos of the guys.
Directly behind where I took the first shot was a wall full of graffiti and the flying skull with Darkness written below it was the pick of them. I took a number of pics with the entire band and individual shots to boot.
The location had an amazing number of rooms to do different shots in. This room was covered in a mass of electrical cables covering the floor. Lining the guys up around the corner of the room meant that I could get them all in with the 10-22 lens.
As you can see here this room was covered in lockers that had been turned over. Like the first shot I took close ups of the band but took this wider shot to accentuate the locker on the right that leads your eye into the band members
This last “framed” shot was one I wanted to do right from the get go but the guys were so busy exploring this place that we didn’t get to do it until just before we left. I am not one to bark orders to my subjects I just asked them to do what they felt comfortable with and some of the expressions they produced were superb.
I love the way the band’s singer is looking up and away from the camera. I also took the same shot in a vertical format to which make the former window look like a post box with the guys “floating” in the space. Talking of space I thought that such a shot would be good for their My Space site (type in Marlow the band to find them) and in the end all agreed that this was the best shot.
The beauty of this place was that there were still about six or seven different spots that we never got around to. Obviously broken glass everywhere and hanging sheets of tin and the like make for a dangerous work space but we took our time and never had a problem.
John, These are really nice shots in a very interesting setting. I like the last shot too.
You state that you are not one to bark orders. Fair enough. But sometimes you just have to provide some direction to get effective results. #2 for example. The three guys on the right look focused and have 'attitude'. The guy on far left looks distracted, as if he is somewhere else. Spoils an effective shot - for me, anyway.
Cool shots! I took the liberty of PPing one of your shots a little further. Perhaps to far, but I'm into it a because my eyes land on the band a little easier. Pardon the lack of quality because it was 2 minutes. I hope you don't mind! over all I think you did a nice job
1: tone mapping
2: portraiture
3:B&W layer over the mess with 40% opacity.
4: took out the hot spot in the sign.
