last night after work at 6:30 i went to kevork’s place in mclean to meet with him and eric (enferno) and review the shots that we got on sunday. i don’t think i posted about that here; i met up with the two of them (kevork is the manager of the Trooperz, the turntable crew that enferno belongs to) to get photos outside for their press kit, website, and other promotional materials. we didn’t really have a strict definition of what we wanted to get, just shots that were artistic while still having some utilitarian value. lots of portraits, head shots, and a fair amount of shots that we weren’t sure had a lot of practical applications, but were still good shots with artistic value.
we met up yesterday to review the shots (there were ~400 of them), and after 3 hours we had narrowed the 400 down to ~60. out of those i’d say 15-30 are of really great quality that i’m happy with. one in particular is absolutely, without a doubt, the best portrait i’ve shot. we were talking for a while that day about how great portrait photography isn’t about catching something as rigid as a pose, but catching the moments between the poses when you forget about the camera and are distracted momentarily by something else. those were the moments that i was trying to catch. we brought a few props with us, his silver mirror-plated technics mixer that he won for being 2nd place in the worlds, a crate with some records, and a black leather “dmc us champion” jacket. that was a tough prop to use, kind of bulky and weird because it looks like a normal jacket except for on the back where the embroidery is.
after some consideration, i decided it was best not to ask for any kind of monetary return for the work i’m doing for them. i’ve told a few people about this and a lot of them have kind of had a reaction like, ‘why would you do that??’. i think these guys can offer me opportunities that are worth more than money, whereas with most other clients, money is all i really want in return for working for them. brian (geometrix) wants some promo shots done also, and i wouldn’t be surprised if other members of the crew ask for the same, assuming that things go as well with brian as they have with eric. i hope to learn something from them.. we have a lot in common, like dj’ing (obviously), but where i’m a relative novice they’re world class experts. i hope that over the next few years i can work with more notable clients and build a client list and portfolio – i think this a big step.
back to work for now, people are bugging me to process some images for the proposal.