I Teamed up with Edinburgh musicians Hiva Oa to produce their publicity stills at the start of the year. It wouldn’t do us justice to say it was just a really good shoot. Apart from everything working out to plan, it was no sweat on all fronts. This could almost be a 6-step prescription for the perfect shoot.
First We shot in Leith. Well of course we did.
Second We used a great location with tonnes of possibility. We weren’t shy of creative
ideas for a second. There were surfaces, bookshelves, tables and wallpaper,
quite literally, to the ceiling.
Third We kept on the move. We took our gear to the stairs, we went outside, we tried
loads of space and made the most of natural light. We used the props we found
and didn’t weigh ourselves down. Just keeping it really simple.
Fourth We kept it really simple. Sort of. We lit a temple worth of incense to haze out our room. We even bunged an old fluorescent tan lamp into action to do wild
things to the shadows and spread the most eerie shade of green over everything.
Sweet! (but blinding) Things got so out of hand I even shot a roll of film.
Fifth We wrapped up and had a celebrated with a crate of wine and fell into the trap of
swapping an inexhaustible supply of YouTube videos. Basically when the wine is out,
you are on to a winner.