A few months ago I was asked to give lead a talk at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. For several years now I've worked events at Crystal Bridges, so it was an absolute honour to be given the opportunity to speak to budding photographers.
The focus of my workshop was Musical Energy. My goal was to talk about my promotional work with bands in the Fayetteville area, how these shoots were influenced by my concert photography work, and how both influenced my portrait work.
When I talk about my work, I have a tendency to get a little passionate and long winded. Fortunately everyone bared with me and stuck around for part 2!
After an overly long lecture, the real fun began. I was able to rope in two amazing (and incredibly busy) musicians I'd been dying to work with to model for me and the group. Caleb and Ashtyn were very gracious and patient as I talked through different techniques I use to create compelling images, while letting my class experiment with implementation of these techniques.
As with most shoots, I had one or two images in mind. The first image below was one I knew I wanted to create, loosely inspired by the painting American Gothic. Everything else was created in the moment.