Zak is the center snare of Mason’s marching band. As a percussionist, he plays many other instruments, including the marimba and the piano. Since I know he is passionate about music, I knew we would be showcasing his skills in his senior session. I ran a few ideas by his mom, who gave me the green light to go ahead (or in this case, we used red and blue lights). She helped us set up what we needed and served as the lighting and production assistant.
We had a little setback, in that Zak’s snare drum stand was at the locked school, but they improvised with an end table, stacked cushions, and a garbage bag. And in case anyone at the school is having fits, Zak used his own drum, an older head, and concert jacket for the session.
This session took a lot more time because of the location changes and all the different lighting set ups, involving up to four off-camera flashes at a time, including one inside the snare drum. But Zak has both patience and good bone structure, both critically important to the success of the project. And big props to his mom, who cobbled together the snare stand on short notice, drove us around, and hand held the flashes while we were out on location!
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