Melodic Metal

When Emily, the front woman of the Metal Band “If I Were a Gladiator” approached me she stated she dug images which fuel her aesthetic of the grungy urban- she said, “I love contrast, dark backgrounds, and industrial sites….” That phrase alone just tickled me with excitement, as of course, that is right up my alley (literally, as you will see from these images).

She describes her band’s sound as Melodic Metal, a bit of edge with some soft intrigue, so that is what we went for in these pictures. A bit fashion, a bit grunge, lots of contrast. We spent our time cruising around the Pioneer Square area, found some great impromptu locations which were just awesome to add a good amount of feeling and emotion to the portraiture.

For me, this was a great opportunity to give me something really cool and different to work on. I love making images where the client comes back and says, ‘oh my gosh- this is exactly what I had in my head, you so captured what I was going for.’ Emily was really a great Model, in the most traditional sense of the word. She knew exactly how she wanted to pose, exactly the right look with her eyes and body language. She was incredibly responsive to my coaching and suggestions of ‘hey, let’s try this!’ I am really pretty excited to show these, as I think they turned out great. Mostly, I really hope they aid Emily and her band in making a huge impact as they release their first CD next month.

My favorite part of the shoot was the shots we got from this awesome parking garage. Actually, I shouldn’t say awesome, because the garage was actually downright nasty- it reeked of urine, was scattered with discarded trash and other unmentionables. However, it made the best backdrop as the entire back wall was windows, flooding the space with tons of natural light while framing the portraits with a dilapidated and total inner-city feel while illuminating Emily’s skin with a soft and creamy light. Couldn’t have been more perfect! These last two shots are my favorite: