Music Photography with Sandra MacBeth

A few blog posts ago, I talked about a shoot with bassist Lorna Thomas. It turns out Lorna’s partner (at the time, they are now married), singer/songwriter Sandra MacBeth was also interested in doing a shoot at the derelict hospital.

We found some other locations amongst the derelict buildings, as there are plenty of interesting spots to chose from.

Singer/songwriter Sandra MacBeth sitting in a chair in a derelict location
Sandra holding the guitar she bought in Nashville.
Singer/songwriter Sandra MacBeth sitting in a chair in a derelict location
Vertical compositions are important to shoot for musicians. This is the format of posters that are typically used to promote gigs.

When we came across that armchair, it immediately suggested the set up seen above. As I like to stress, sometimes a small change in the expression of a subject can have a big impact on the final image, so I like to take plenty of frames to get some really good ones.

We then moved on to a place nearby, which looked to have been a bathroom/restroom (see the tiles). The natural colours didn’t inspire me, so I used a gelled flash bounced off the ceiling to give the images more of an eerie look.

Singer/songwriter Sandra MacBeth sitting in a chair in a derelict bathroom/restroom
The area was really dark, so I had to use some artificial light. Two speed lights: one on Sandra and another bounced into the ceiling with a coloured gel on it.
Singer/songwriter Sandra MacBeth sitting in a chair in a derelict bathroom/restroom
We tried a number of poses. These were the two Sandra liked best.
Singer/songwriter Sandra MacBeth sitting in a chair in a derelict bathroom/restroom
This time again, I also shot a vertical composition.

 

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