The Logistics of a Photoshoot With New Music Raleigh

Months ago, I met with Shawn Galvin and Karen Strittmatter Galvin, who form the foundation of the new music collective New Music Raleigh. I had photographed a show of theirs in the past for an article in the North Carolina Symphony’s Opus magazine, and was eager to work with them again. At that breakfast, we outlined a plan for some promo photos to be used on the web and possibly for photos that would appear on CD liner notes. As the lineup–other than Karen and Shawn–of NMR changes depending on the project, we discussed various ways to represent the other players and instruments with which they collaborate. We came up with some great ideas, and I had some pretty clear pictures in my mind. Later, we scouted venues and made a plan. It was all coming together, each piece falling into place.

Except for just. one. little. problem. I was working with a bunch of working musicians, a collective of folks who have day jobs and lives–Karen is Assistant Concertmaster for the NC Symphony, and Shawn often plays with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Turns out, finding time to get five or six musicians together, in one place, when they have time to make photographs instead of rehearse or perform, rarely happens. Of course I knew it would be a challenge, but I thought it would be doable. After much wrangling and back-and-forth emailing, it became clear that, in fact, it wasn’t going to happen. Also, the venue we wanted to use is a working theater in Raleigh, which added yet another timing variable, and the dates just never all synced up. Time for Plan B.

Eventually, we found a date that would work for everyone… “everyone” being me, Shawn, and Karen only. Originally, we had thought to maybe represent the other musicians with folks with bags on their heads and air instruments–it seemed to be a way to be simultaneously playful and practical. Unfortunately, now we had just two people. I thought of using mannequins instead, and went as far as to source two, but that idea fell through as well. In the midst of this, Karen and Shawn found a venue we could use–King’s Barcade in Raleigh, where they would be performing Beck’s Songreader the following week.

We also had access to their studio, where they rehearse and keep their gear. So we finalized a date, made our plans, and got the greenlight from the folks at King’s. Finally, it was all coming together!

When the day arrived, we met at their studio, and I scoped it out. We decided we’d start at King’s and then come back to the studio for a couple of different looks. We found parking, schlepped in all the gear we’d need. I set up my lights while Karen and Shawn got dressed. The unused and mostly unoccupied King’s was sweltering, so we were all motivated to work quickly. We started shooting, working through the awkwardness at the beginning of any shoot. I started to find the interesting spaces, colors, compositions. We brainstormed and shot, moved around.

We got into a groove and things started clicking. I had found a nice nook backstage with some interesting stuff, and had the lights set up just right. It was gorgeous, straight out of some 40s era movie, all dramatic light with subtle nuance, nice textures, atmosphere. And then we had to stop. Apparently, there was some miscommunication among King’s management, and the person that was supposed to stay there while we shot had to leave, taking us out with her. So, just when we got going in our location, we had to pack up and leave. Fine, we said, we’ll just go back to the studio and do what we can there.

We did manage to find some more compositions in the studio that we liked, getting some photographs with their instruments and in their creative space. Where King’s was more formal and theatrical, the studio was more casual, more comfortable, maybe more accessible. Looking at the photos in this blog, you can probably figure out which ones are from which location.

In the end, I was happy with a lot of the photos, but felt like the actual photography part of the shoot was just a very small fraction of the work and thought that went into the shoot. Plans were made and changed, made and changed, settled and disrupted. We were on a tight time schedule and didn’t even realize it, and we were all working around all the many obligations we have in our lives. I wanted to relate the experience here to illustrate and illuminate some of the “behind the scenes” stuff that goes on. Just as some celebrity photographers often have mere minutes to make a shot, so others of us are often pressured by various constraints to make good photographs on the fly, and to think on our feet. Sometimes the photographs are only a small part of the story and a small part of the work, and it is the other logistics that can make or break a photographer and/or a photoshoot.

I like the photos we walked away with, and they are starting to serve their purpose, appearing on both Karen’s and Shawn’s websites. Would we have had even better photos if we had all the time we needed, and our schedules were clear? I don’t know. I certainly would have loved some photos of Shawn and Karen along with some creepy looking musicians with paper bags on their heads, and I would have loved to shoot in the vintage school auditorium that I had pictured in my head. But reality rarely mirrors the vision you have in your mind, and as a photographer, you have to have the flexibility and the creativity to be able to make lemonade with whatever situation you end up in.

I will say that having strobes and all of my camera gear with me certainly gave me options to work with, allowing me to build up the production value with some dramatic light. It was also great to work with Shawn and Karen, who were up for pretty much anything and had some good ideas of their own. I hope to work with them again, and if not, certainly to go see them perform in the future–they are fantastic, and have an uncanny ability to surround themselves with other amazing musicians.