Deanna at the Eras

Last Sunday, I packed up my camera bag and drove out to Valley View for another photoshoot: Asia’s! This photoshoot was about celebrating black musicians over the years. She picked Breakthrough Sounds, a recording studio, for the location.

A few models showed up dressed as famous black musicians: Donna Summer, Doechii, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu…and others I’m sure I’m forgetting. It was pretty cool to see everyone dressed up in costume. I was thinking about dressing up as Tracy Chapman. She has sisterlocks, I have microlocs, she plays guitar and wore a leather jacket to a performance once, I play guitar and have a leather jacket…

But I don’t have an acoustic guitar. And I kinda wanted to learn Fast Car first. So I ended up abandoning the idea. Maybe I’ll go as Tracy Chapman for halloween. My locs might be longer by then, anyway.

And anywho.

I spent most of my time photographing people while they performed and did lots of BTS work. I took some video, and most of it is usable! The issue is figuring out how to edit the video. Right now, the video jumps from clip to clip rather abruptly. I’d like to figure out how to slow down some of the clips and maybe add a fade out transition to the end of the video.

If anything, I appreciate my videographer friends 10x more because this is hard.

~

The one thing I took away from the event is that I really am a candids/BTS photographer. I want to do more posed work and I will try to find some. I actually had a shoot on Saturday that went pretty well. I directed her a bit, gave her some ideas for poses to try. So that was good. But still, I can confidently say that if you’re looking for someone to capture candids at an event, or behind the scenes photos, I’m your girl.

Anyway, I really like going to these events because they’re great opportunities to practice my craft and add new content to my portfolio. And also meet some amazing Cleveland creatives!

And now, photos.