The Statesman recently sent me to the Stephen F. Austin Hotel bar, where I met up with three members of Brain Candy Collective.
Brain Candy Collective is made up of three “edutainment” organizations – The Dionysium, Nerd Nite and The Encyclopedia Show – that have teamed up for an entertaining and thought provoking sort of variety show. I’ll let you read more about them in Michael Barnes’ article by clicking here.
Anyway, I met a representative from each group for a mini portrait session. I was warned ahead of time that the bar would be super dark, and that it would be open to the public at the time I was shooting. Those are two things that don’t bode well for good photos. But I was also told that these guys were a little bit silly, so I could probably get them to do a few things out of the ordinary.
Before the shoot, I thought about nerdy things, like thick glasses (which I have), thick books, calculators, pocket protectors, etc. Props aren’t always the best things to use when photographing people for a newspaper, so I tried to keep the cheese just under the point of curdling.
I went to the dollar store and bought a pair of plastic thick glasses and a calculator. Then I went over to a thrift store and bought a thick dictionary ($0.27!). I figured we could try to incorporate the props, but if they didn’t work, oh well.
When I arrived, the bar wasn’t necessarily crowded with people (though there were a few stragglers), just lots of furniture. Lots of chairs and tables. I lugged some studio lights from my car, parked in a garage around the corner, but I would’ve had to move half the seating area around to get the shots I wanted. So I did the best I could with an SB 800 speedlight.
I started with JC Dwyer, “co-boss” of Nerd Nite. I got a regular portrait and then we tried to use the calculator. Turns out half the buttons didn’t work. That’s what you get when you pay $1 for an electronic device. Luckily we borrowed an iPhone (on which you can adjust brightness), and I left it to them to figure out pi.
Next up was Michael Graupmann, producer of the The Encyclopedia Show. His idea for his prop photo was what he called a “senior picture.” I asked him what he meant and he did a couple poses for me. I’m happy with what we ended up using.
Third was L.B. Deyo, president of the The Dionysium. He liked the thick glasses so much that he wanted to wear them in every shot. I had to convince him that they needed an option without the glasses.
Last was to get all of them together. The shot at the top is the regular group photo that ended up printing. Below are two shots of them being silly with the props.
They were fun to work with, though I think I only began to bring out their silly sides – the suits may have held them back. Anyway, check ’em out if you get the chance!
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