On the 26th August I did a portrait shoot with From Rust. They are a local band that I have seen and photographed live a few times, they had mentioned to me in the past that they would need some promo photos done. A few days prior to the 26th, the vocalist Jake contacted me and said they needed some shots done for the 31st. This didn’t give me a lot of time to plan, arrange and produce the photoshoot as I also had to arrange it around work and was attending Reading festival on the 28th.
They had just switched bassists so one of the members I hadn’t met before but I got on well with them all and they were fun to photograph. They are young guys that like to laugh and joke around, which doesn’t really work for metal photoshoots but creates a nice atmosphere on set and helps everyone to feel at ease.
The photos were required by the 31st for a feature they are going to be given in Kerrang, as well as needing some promotional shots for their upcoming EP release in November. As we didn’t have long to plan I suggested a location I used previously in my tattoo project, which worked well for the urban, grungey look that the guys wanted. They send me some examples of photos they liked including ones of Bury Tomorrow, so I tried to create a shoot that was unique to them but included some similar features to the photos that had sent.
They wanted the photos to be quite dark and miserable looking, but the only day we had to shoot turned out to be a hot sunny day, with a long sunset. We began the shoot with the blaring sun, and a lot of the images were washed out. After about an hour of shooting the sun died down and created some nice lighting that I think worked for the shoot and enhanced the guys well. I think that they contrast with the background and it compliments their appearance. We also went back and revisited some of the previous set ups when the sun had died down.
It was quite a quick shoot as we decided that we had gathered enough after only about an hour. We began shooting about 6:30pm, so this gave me enough time to go home and edit before working 8 hours the next day. After work I sent the images over to the guys. I was unsure if I’d have enough and if they would please with them, as I lack experience and confidence with my portrait shoots. However, I was very pleased to hear that all of the members were delighted with the images produced, and they have since been posting them on their social media accounts.
