Old Time Machine does it again...GBP Creative Photography and Video

Well, it's finally here! We've been waiting to release these shots as it's been one of our favorite projects to date!

So not only did we get to work with one of our favorite bands again (if you haven't checked them out yet, do yourselves a favour and head over to Old Time Machine's facebook page to see what they're up to lately), but we also got to collaborate with one of our favorite local artists, Joseph Tisiga as well...

So some of you may remember the press shots we did for OTM last year that went a little something like this:

Well, for that same album, Joseph did the cover art along with Eleanor Rosenberg which looked a little something like this:

Now, the OTM boys were stoked with both pieces, but for their newest releases, they really wanted to be able to have the photography and the artwork be more cohesive...SO, what happened? Collaboration magic exploded in our studio...

So for the latest shots, Joseph used cut outs, painted the background, and came up with the wooden log concept, while we then photographed each piece separately, did portraits of Ryan and Kyle, and then pieced it all together to fit one unique, scene...

Although it sounds like a fairly simple process, it actually took a lot of work.  The 'statues' are actually all small hand-cut out images that Joseph collected, which were then individually shot in the studio attached to tiny skewers to hold their shape.

The logs, borrowed from a friend's wood pile, were then all also photographed individually.  

And then there's the hand-painted background...this came about as we were trying to think of what the backdrop would be when suddenly, joseph pulled a paintbrush out of his pocket (because he just happened to have one there...unreal), dipped it into his cup of coffee, and started to paint on a piece of paper...so simple, yet it fit the final image perfectly.

Then there were the portraits themselves which were each shot and processed separately.

And finally, Gary then also created individual shadows for each statue in order to create the depth he was looking for in the final image. He then also added a light texture and color wash to the entire piece so that it had a cohesive feel.

And the result??

A GBP, Old Time Machine and Joseph Tisiga collaboration that looks a little something like this:

Hope you guys enjoy it...and be sure to stay tuned as their newest single, "All the While" is going to be release May 28th and it is gonna be DOPE! In fact, you can stream it early here!

12 Months of sexy, sassy and quirky...

It's been over 7 months in the making...24 fantastic models, 3 talented hair and makeup artists, 3 hard working assistants and multiple venues.  It's by far the most complex series of composites in our portfolio yet.  It's been a long process, but we are SO excited to be able to present to everyone, our newest creative project: The Varietease 2013 Calendar.

Gary's been photographing for Varitease, a local burlesque variety show, for over four years, and this year we teamed up with the show's producer and director, Fiona Solon and Brian Fidler, to plan for a creative project that would highlight the show's unique style and energy.

Over numerous brainstorming meetings, we were able to come up with 12 conceptual 'scenes' which we wanted to create.  Through the use of various venues around town including back alleys, Brian's studio, our own studio, the Guild Hall, and even one of our assistant's living rooms, we were able to create a variety of different atmospheres to ensure each shot has it's own unique look.

The images all reflect a number of past characters and cast members from previous shows, although we really wanted it to have more of a 'off-the-stage' kind of feel.  We tried to portray the cast and characters either before, after, or in between shows.  We were lucky to have an incredible group of models who were excited to be a part of the project and brought great energy and styles to every shot.

The majority of the shots are composites, meaning each person in the frame was photographed independently to ensure Gary was able to light them and work individually with them to capture the exact expression and feel that he was hoping for.  He then takes all of the individual shots and pieces them all together to create one seamless image.  For a little bit more in depth description of how composites work, see our previous post from the Rendezvous cover shoot.

We currently have an exhibit on up at the Guild Hall during this week's Varietease run featuring all of the calendar images.  Come on out this Friday and Saturday (June 1-2nd) to check it out.

We also have 2013 calendars for sale which feature all of the images as well.  To purchase them, just give us a shout at info@garybremner.com

Hope you like em!

Final Touch

Busted

The Divine Miss Jones

The Risky Rollers

Get Off My Back

Fabulous in Feathers

The Death of Cyrus Hellwater

Dirty Carnies Cigar Girls

Who's the Puppet Now?

A Little to the Left

Cast + Crew Please Use the Back Door

Hurry Up and Wait

How I Shot the Rendezvous Magazine Cover

I have had a few people asking me for some more details on the how I shot the rendezvous cover, so I thought I would do a post on it.

Ok so I knew what I wanted: 1 image of 4 girls and an antique car all looking amazing with a 1940’s feel too it. So the fist step was to draw-up some sort of mock-up to have it approved by the Rendezvous people (Turns out Brianne has mad stick-people drawing skills too).

ya.....

Once the idea was approved we had to figure out how to make it happen.... with a tight budget and a tight shooting timeline. So the options were to shoot it all at once, or to shoot it in pieces and put it together later as a composite. The problem with shooting it all at once is that that it would take allot of money, people, gear and time... funny... all things which we don't have! So composite it was! The key to a composite of this nature is to make sure you have everything consistent allowing for an easier time in photoshop piecing all back together. So that starts with your camera on a tripod which never gets moved, and a manual exposure and a fixed focal length lens... then the only thing that changes is lighting, focus and models! First I had 4 photo doubles stand in for the ladies so we could figure out our composition.... which I knew was vertical orientation with negative space on top and bottom of the frame to allow for text. Once we figured out that part, I locked down the tripod.... duct-taped the crap out of it to the floor and hooked up a pocket wizard with a motor drive cable (to remotely fire it and the lighting). 

You can see the high teck duct-tape !

Then it was shooting time... So on manual exposure and focus (again so nothing changes) I shot a ton of images of the car and of the luggage only changing the lighting position and type. With the pocket wizard this worked really well, cause I was able to do this all very fast and by myself. I was able to just run around with 1 light on a wheeled boom stand shooting and repositioning the light. 

Me wheeling the boom stand around

I didn't care about light direction cause my plan was just to light the crap out of it and make a surrealistic nighttime type look anyways... so having the light coming from a specific direction didn't matter for this shot. Once the car was done we setup up and shot each of the girls separately... making sure we got the best possible image of each of them. The girls lighting setup was pretty simple... I used one 4’ soft box as the main in front of them, then had a bare bulb kicker on the sides to give them a little bit of highlight and separation from the dark background. Interesting thing I learnt was that dark fur is like a black hole for light.... it takes allot of light to register on the fur... but then by that time your blowing out the skin... was tough to balance. Doing it this way also had other logistical pluses, like while I shot the car the first model was having hair and make-up done... then when I was shooting her the next one was being prepped, this way we needed only one make-up person and one stylist...cheaper! 

Brianne doing an amazing job on the props

Sharon and Denali 

who is this guy?

Over all view of where we were working

Next came the photoshop stuff and that was pretty straight forward process of a million layers and just painting in things I liked from each different shot. The only cool thing was I was able to use gravel from another shoot in the summer and place in the bottom of the image while maintaining all proper shadows... I was stoked that it worked out so well.

So thats about it.... 

I would like to thank: 

- Mike Collins at Rendezvous Society for great ideas, art direction, and tasty snack table

- Brianne Meister for being an awesome photo assistant and stylist, and set designer, and mad stick-man drawing skills

- Lyndsey Hamilton for her super resourceful stylist skills, and knowledge

- Sharon Speiss for all the lovely make-up and hair work she did for us.

Setup:

Canon 5d mk2

85mm 

Tethered to laptop shooting to Lightroom 3

Fired by motor-drive Pocketwizard

Lights used - 3 Alien Bee B800’s controlled by more pocket wizards

Finished Image

Staff, corporate, or even family group photos... GBP style!

We have been doing more of this style of group photos lately, so I thought maybe I should tell you guys a bit about it.

Above is an example of a staff/corporate group photo... but done in a different way. Instead of lining everyone up in front of the office plant collection, we shoot everyone separately, or in groups of 2 or 3. We then later cut them out and piece them back together in a any sort of position. This has a few key advantages:

1. Not all of your staff has to be shot at the same, time allowing your business to keep running.
2. We can make sure that each person looks their best.... rather than having 7 people looking great and that one guy in mid blink... which is normal of larger group photos.
3. If you have staff turn-over.... no need to reshoot the whole thing.. we can just take that person out and add the new person in.
4. Eliminates distracting elements from your group photo, and focuses the viewer on your staff.

Plus we can shoot this just about anywhere there is enough room to set up our equipment! So if you're saying to yourself "Dang Gary that is a sweet idea... how do I get a shot like that for my office?" just shoot us an email.

info@garybremner.com

GB