While most photo shoots require planning and forethought there are some that require a little more. You often don’t get insight into the thought process behind a photo but I can assure more often than not there are specific choices made for specific reasons.
Recently I got to shoot with two fantastic musical artists Jason and Charmaine Brown. They were looking for some promotional photos. Great, sign me up! With this came the challenge of branding musicians visually. How do you visually represent an artist?
My specific challenge with Jason and Charmaine was representing them within their musical genre. In their case they have both a mainstream pop as well as Christian music background. Also in addition to being musical partners, they are partners in life as a married couple. I wanted to balance all of those elements within the photography to tell that story. I wanted to hint at some of those elements without punching the viewer in the face with it.
Things I wanted to avoid were white flowy robes with divine lights haloing from their heads. I also wanted to avoid making the photos too “coupley”. While they are a husband and wife team and some shots suggest a certain intimacy, I wanted to show them more as musical partners. I tried to keep more neutral poses for a majority of the shots.
I had technical considerations as well. I went in with the mindset of how the photos would be used. These being promo photos I knew I had to shoot them in a way that they would be useful for creating marketing materials, be used on websites, and have the flexibility to add graphical elements to them.
In the end I was pleased with the results. I think we created images that showcase the personality of the artists. I think the photos revealed their sense of passion, fun, and love. I know that they are dreamers and I think that comes out in their eyes.
I look forward to see where they go in their music careers and I am excited I could be a footnote in their journey.
