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The Plastic Boots came to me with a couple tracks and a concept. Like all music groups I shoot, I ask what they are “about”. Immediately they said they were rock n’ roll with a country blend. They explained how they weren’t about heavy eye makeup, ironed hair or the latest fashion; they just wanted to rock on stage and leave everyone with a great time. Cool, I thought, I can work with this.
I tried to brainstorm some imagery that would complement their sound. One of the words that came up in our conversations was ‘raw’, as in, not over produced. This stuck in my head and led me to thinking about Holga style photography, or Lomography.
For those who don’t know, Holgas are a Russian made, medium format, plastic cameras that hit the market in the eighties. It has made a comeback for its DIY modifications, color shifts, and light leaks which adds a raw feel to the image. It was this raw element that I wanted to bring to the band’s pictures to match their sound.
We secured a forklift junkyard for the shoot which had a great urban feel to it. As soon as we arrived, there was a different owner behind the counter and he wouldn’t let us shoot there despite the previous agreement. The junkyard was out. This is the way it goes when you’re doing creative work; plans change in a minute. It was ok though, I had set up two back up locations just in case. I always try to prepare for worst case scenarios which is why my shoots go more smoothly than others.
We had some time before our next location opened up and we decided to drive around the neighborhood for another location that had interesting character. We drove for two hours and it wasn’t looking good. There were only brick walls and railroad tracks available, all totally cliché. Right as we were about to turn around and head back we found it, a… I don’t even know what it was… but it was some rusted out machinery next to a factory. The backdrop was layered and interesting. The rust helped with the raw urban feel. The ladder and ledge helped me to stagger the band to create an interesting composition. We jumped out of the car, started shooting and ended up with the best shots of the day.
This was a truly satisfying experience. One where everything looked like it was going to fall apart because we lost a really cool location, but the moment turned around and helped us to discover a new location that we never would have found otherwise. The band is really happy with the final photo and so am I.
The Plastic Boots are playing at the Double Door on August 12th, 2010. Check them out if you’re in the neighborhood.”>Double Door on August 12th, 2010. Check them out if you’re in the neighborhood.
Oh, and here’s the back up location which turned out really well too:
