This is C.G. Ryche: percussionist. I landed a Riverside Magazine cover shoot with the instructions "Its for cover, and he has a lot of gear." I was excited and ready to produce cover-worthy art. At almost 18 years in the business, a challenge is what always keeps me going, and C.G. definitely provided that by bringing at least six or seven varieties of drums to the studio.Did I mention how small the studio is?
The drums ranged from congas and timbales, to tom-toms, and he even had a large Japanese Taiko drum. I wanted to get there early to set up my lighting, but he beat me to the shoot. Hence, when I got there he had about 20 pieces of gear out on the floor.
I set up about four Norman honeycombed lights from a variety of positions, utilizing wattage and angle to carefully light multiple drums at once. My assistant held an SB-800 on a slave to give C.G. some edge lighting. After about an hour or so testing the light set-up, I was finally
ready to start shooting.Due to the small size of the studio, I had to give up my dream of an all black background and chose instead to incorporate the shadows of the drums onto a gelled background instead. This is called ad-libbing, something I do quite a lot of. You have an idea in your head, and then ad-lib because you are either limited by time, light, gear, a cranky or famous subject or all of the above.
After about 2 hours of shooting, and a canceled 4 o'clock shoot, it was time for a late lunch. I was feeling frustrated, hungry, and burnt on ideas. We ended up at Taco Bell, where C.G. treated. In the studio we had been talking about C.G.'s musical influences ranging from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to Phil Collins, U2 and Afro-Caribbean music. It was over lunch that I discovered that we not only shared a love of music but also shared our Christian faith. After sharing testimonies, it was back to the studio where I was wondering if I was ever going to get "the shot". I had some nice images, but they were more functional than anything else.
It was then when we returned that I realized the shot was waiting for me. As I was clearing my my discs onto my computer, I realized that the setting sun was casting its perfect light from the upstairs windows through the studio doorway and into my workspace. "There it is!," I proclaimed. I set up my camera, and allowed C.G. to get into some moody poses that not only went with the light, but his moody music. I was able to use a mixed blend of ambient light from the window, with the gelled background of studio lights (un-synced.)
I often tell people to "let the photo find you", and that's what happened here. You have to look at what you have from various angles, and lighting set ups, without letting yourself get locked into your preconceived notion of what the photo should look like. We next took to task making shots according to the editor's wishes, such as looking into one of his conga drums.
This also ended up being a mixed lighting situation where I synced a grid light on his face, and went ambient on an amber gelled stage light that C.G. had brought from below.The shoot went down in my books as one of the most complicated lighting situations I had faced.
And of course, despite my advocating, "the shot" didn't make the cover of the magazine as I had hoped. They decided on using a more straight-forward photo that would be more inviting to readers on the racks.But that was fine. It was a great experience, a great challenge, and I had a lot of fun. What do I know about covers anyway? I'm just the photographer.
