He wanted me to do a shoot with a band called Motionless in White, who I had heard of due to them being named after the Eighteen Visions song "Motionless AND White". as well as the fact that they are friends with MickDeth of 18V.
Anyway, I knew this band was a darker band, and wanted to give them that type of look.
I rolled into the studio, and found my white paper background was gone - wasnt even there - someone ripped it down and threw it away (FUCK!) - so I had a friend of mine run out to get one while I shot the band on location.
Luckily - the mighty Jeanne Sagan from All That Remains was there to help me with lights/video stuff (as i do behind the scenes footage of my shoots now)
I really wanted to get all i could out of this shoot, so i brought my 16-35 - my 24-70 - and three lights (2 dynalite uni400s with umbrellas, and 1 with a beauty dish on a boom)
we started by shooting in the elevator using just the boom - this was the same spot i shot the shadows fall promo which can still be seen as the header of their myspace - http://www.myspace.com/shadowsfall
I wanted to give it a different look - so with the boom and a tighter crop (using the 24-70) I jumped to F14 - iso100 - at a 10th (to try to get some of the cold light soaking in) - and this is what we got - sidenote: while we were shooting the elevator was called up to the top floor - some dude jumped on - was REALLY confused as to what was going on - jumped off - and i just kept shooting the entire time haha
After shooting there, we moved just outside the elevator, and like the shoot with sarah wolf - I wanted to get mostly ceiling and cut out the background a buck - so i shot at a very upward angle with two umbrellas at a 35 degree angle toward them - they were at the same power but for some stupid reason the light on my left (their right) was a bit brighter then the one on my right - and in camera i didnt notice it until i loaded the images - and with out mentioning it - hopefully you wouldnt have noticed either... ISO100 - F10 - at a 20th (locking in more ambient lighting with out getting a blur) - 16-35 lens.
We finished up there, and I went to see what outside looked like - and it looked like 40+ mile per hour winds!! soooo umbrellas were out! - I just used the boom up as high as possible - and I had little jeanne holding onto the boom so it wouldnt go flying with the wind gusts. - about 3 shots in - it started SNOWING!!!! WHAAAAAT?!? - yes! - SNOWING! - and the wind was killing their hair - so I shot quickly - then we hit another spot - however - these are by FAR my favorite shots of the day. - totally worth it. - for this i shot at a 160th at F14 - while the sky was actually a stop or two below that - I just wanted the sky to go a bit darker - and give them a more creepy feel. - these were all shot with the 24-70mm
We went against a wall just behind where we were shooting hoping that it would block the DEATH WINDS and SNOW! but it didnt help much so we just did a quick set here - with the same settings - however in ALOT of the shots - the singer is a bit brighter due to being taller - being up front - and having a partially shaved head - so i had to even that out just a tad in post.
We ran back inside and i looked at the photos and realized in the earlier outdoor set one of the dudes had their hood up and went dark - so i was like - ok guys - we gotta go back out and get some more shots... and we did - but they werent as good as the original ones - so i scrapped it - the wind was harder - hair was more messy - meh - whatever - i torture bands for shots sometimes - its worth it!
I also did some natural light shots in the hallway - and outdoors when it stopped snowing - but i just wasnt into them - so - you dont get to see them - sorry... I think with natural light shots i really like super clean full backgrounds, and if i cant get that I probably wont be into it.
We then rolled to the open part of the basement - and I shot an area with a bunch of pipes - first with split lighting which was OK - then with just the boom and i liked those much better - this one is at F14 - at a 30th - and again the 24-70 lens
The last spot we hit in the basement was an area with grey brick - I shot it with split lighting to get alot of shadows and just - I wasnt into it - the dudes love it - but I couldnt back it - so i popped up the beauty dish up front pointed directly at them (rather then down above them) - and used it as a fill while the umbrellas on the size gave them an awesome circular halo of light around and behind them - my settings for this are - F11 at a 30th
After that we rolled to the studio - got some cheesesteaks/food - and waited for the white background to show up - and as soon as it rolled in - we started shooting RIGHT AWAY as they were already late for load-in (yep, im a dick! i make bands late sometimes!)
We started with just a beauty dish above (this time profoto compact300s) F10 at a 160th - and i believe I was using the 24-70 the entire time.
I then did some solos of chris - and jumped the fstop to 14 - as again - hes taller - and reflects more light then the rest of the band - due to his height - his hair - and his awesomeness (obviously)
I finished up by shooting them for my tattoo book - but looking at the images I forgot to push my lights back to 50% and so the shots of chris are a bit over-exposed - so HOPEFULLY I can get those dudes back in the studio again in the near future to re-shoot them for it. The shots of the Angelo are fine but for some reason Chris is just a giant light reflector *shrug* these are F16 at a 160th - but the exposures are SO different - as you can see...
These dudes are awesome - and hopefully they will find some solid use for the images and we will absolutely be shooting again in the future
It was really cool to work with a band that was super excited to shoot with me, as I was to shoot with them. check them out - they are bound to hit big when their record drops!
Thanks for shooting Motionless In White. They are one of the best bands ever in my opinion. I know they have talent. Rock on MIW.
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