|  |  | Secret Graceland Adventure Revealed Welcome to the latest update on RORSHAK's Adventures in Photography. Until this month, there existed certain unmentionables that could not be fully disclosed to the public, but alas, I am happy to share one of this spring's most dynamic escapades: the RORSHAK adventure to Graceland with CMT's final 5 contestants from their new television series "Next Superstar". The contents of this adventure aired on television on May 13, 2011, and you may view it here. Usually credits for a production appear at the end of the presentation, but since I would have sat at home and ' got nothing and liked it' without some incredible help on this job, I want to thank Mollie Jannasch at Agency MJ who molded the production into shape, Joe Burlingame and Ian Riley, who made problems go away as my assistants.
 31 Flavors The challenge of a shooting at Graceland is similar to selecting a flavor of ice cream from Baskin Robbins: when all 31 flavors are delicious, which one do you commit too? Elvis had (has?) a knack for eccentricities, plenty of acres with horses and barns, and a car museum, and of course, the Graceland Mansion. We used 5 locations in the matter of about 7 hours for this shoot, and simultaneously created album cover photos and a television show. Each contestant was available to be photographed for only 30 minutes. If things went poorly, it would have been sour grapes, hard boiled eggs, and humble pie for myself, CMT, and Warner Record Group. Thankfully, the shoot went very well and each artist delivered a striking performance. It is important to keep the focus on the artist in making a record cover. Incorporating elements of Graceland into that same image divides what is intended to be important: does the performer or the location become the subject of the image? We had to deliver the viewer's attention to the contestant, but also incorporate the iconography of the location.
 Matt Mason and Danielle Lauderdale, Inside the Mansion For the locations above, the set was saturated with interest in the periphery, but the contestants, Matt Mason (left) and Danielle Lauderdale (right) found the perfect nook so that they were still able to draw attention from the eccentric set. Matt appears here in Elvis' pool room, which is very small when loaded with lighting equipment. A very helpful crew member from the CMT staff had to hand hold a fill light, using his arms like a boom arm, since the legs of the stands kept sprawling into the frame. For Danielle's image, we shot in Elvis' White Room, and had to place scrub booties (like in a hospital) over our shoes and the feet of the light stands so that the carpet would remain unblemished. Even after a number of shoots since this adventure, I keep those booties gaff taped to my C-stand for sentimentality's sake.
 Steven Clawson and Courtney Cole, Rock and Roll For Steven Clawson (above, left) we had to select from an abundance of incredible cars in Elvis' car museum. The location of this particular car in the museum allowed us to shoot from the front, using the chrome of the grill as an interesting element, get a carpet surface that could be interpreted as asphalt, and to create a faux drive-through diner set thanks to the neon lights and placement of a street lamp. We shot Courtney Cole's image (above right) at the gates of Graceland. The gates have enormous iron notes welded to the exterior. I wanted to incorporate the musical notes as a form in the background, and imagined that if they were backlit by the sun, they'd appear like dark note shapes in the background. As mentioned before, combining too many elements into a frame divides the importance of each element, and I felt that the notes ended up diminishing Courtney's significance. For this image, she is located at a spot in the gate without any notes, and the background has a gritty, urban feel. We tried dropping white material behind the gate as a variable background since horrid looking cars and buses were constantly passing behind her, making for irratic results. If you watch the television show, you'll see the version selected as the album cover has the white fabric draped behind the gate. I thought that the light on Courtney was beautiful this way, the reviewer from the branding department did not agree, but the top label executive did. I figure that it's this kind of dissonance that makes a good television show.
 Wynn, Keeping Spirits Light The contestant that kept everyone's spirits light was Wynn Varble (above). We started our set out in front of Graceland, and I figured I could make him appear somewhat exaggeratedly prominent, and the mansion comparatively small, almost like a small model of a house, using a wide angle lens and just the right perspective. The show documents the first part of our shoot where we wrestle with this idea. Unfortunately, the effect wasn't close enough to the ideal to ignite our enthusiasm, and we had to make some quick maneuvers and finish the set off using the horse fields as our background. It was hard to turn away from the spectacle of Graceland, but the resulting simple frame seems to compliment Wynn the best. Reading Reward
As a reward for reading all of this, I have created a short video from the JonesWorld classic rock record remake shoot noted in last month's newsletter. Its a fairly painless and hopefully entertaining short that you'll enjoy. Watch it here.
Thank you for spending time with this update. Please don't hesitate to bug me if you need creative images. Visit the RORSHAK web page here.
Cheers! Rory | | | | |  | | |
