Behind the Scenes: Alabaster

We met at the Unicorn on the Cob show at Waids in Seattle – I was zipping around with my camera and Alabaster was there rocking out.  We happened to cross paths and Kate from Alabaster (she’s in the red shirt with the vest) mentioned they needed some photos.  I had some free time, so we decided to meet at Barça on Capitol Hill for a little photo-fun!  You can check out their interesting brand of power-punk/pop on the Alabaster Myspace page.

Check out the photos:

The Alabaster kids are a TON of fun to work with and Barça is such a wonderful host for letting us take over their bar for a few hours.  Their music is fun to rock out to and they had a lot of fun during the shoot.

My reflections on the opportunity:

The shoot made me realize how much I need a reflector… and maybe a diffuser box for my flash.  I learned a lot about composition for band shots – and how hard it is to get so many people to not blink, all at once.  I honed my skills at giving direction – it’s amazing how many photographers don’t know how to direct their subjects to the right poses and places, while making their subject feel at ease and not tense.  The most important key is to have fun and for the photographer and subject to feel really comfortable during the shoot.  Because I shoot with digital, I found it’s okay to take 200 photos of goofy stuff – you never know what you’ll *actually* get on camera.  A lot of *film* photographers would beg to differ on this matter – I know shooting film produces a better technique photographer, but sometimes candid shots really ARE the best.  There’s a time to focus on intended shots and a time to shoot fun stuff that will look amazing in the end (that photo of Shain – in the red dress at the mirror, was TOTALLY candid).

So that’s that – a super fun experience with a super fun band.  If anybody in Seattle is interested, Alabaster will be playing the Sunset Tavern in Ballard on the 26th.  More information on their shows can be found on their Myspace.