Photo Shoot Inspiration and Planning

While most students are content to find one model to create their imaginary artist, I seek to go one better and assemble a whole band. I've been leaning towards a female vocalist; with this in mind, I have searched Google Images for photographs of female-fronted rock bands, that I may wish to emulate in my own work.

Arch Enemy

Flyleaf

Lacuna Coil

Nightwish

Immediately I can see a pattern emerging - each band's lead vocalist is in the middle of the group, right at the centre of the shot. In each case, she is the face of the band, and it is her of whom fans tend to think when the group is brought to mind.

In each photo, the female lead is made to stand out in a different way so that viewers' attention is drawn to her:

- The Arch Enemy shot draws the eye to Angela Gossow with her red shirt and blonde hair contrasted against the plain black clothes and dark hair of the other members.

- Lacey Sturm, frontwoman of Flyleaf, seems to stand out by virtue of being shorter than her bandmates. This is assisted by her central placing in the shot.

- The Lacuna Coil shot not only places female vocalist Cristina Scabbia at the centre of the shot, it brings her right up into the foreground and places the other band members at such a distance that they are vaguely out of focus. The second clearest face is Cristina's opposite number, male lead vocalist Andrea Ferro (far right).

- Again, the differing clothing allows Anette Olzon of Nightwish to catch the viewer's eye. However, in this case she is not alone in this individuality; keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen is wearing a red shirt as opposed to the plain black of the other members.

This convention of prioritising the female lead is what has inspired my own ideas for my photo shoot. I will combine the elements demonstrated in these photographs, placing my chosen frontwoman at the centre of the group and having them clothed so as to visually set her apart from her bandmates. However, I must be careful not to construct my shots in a way that gives the rest of the group too little exposure; in the above photos, with the debatable exception of the Lacuna Coil shot, the rest of the band are just as visible and command their fair share of attention from viewers without overshadowing the central presence of the lead.

I have yet to decide upon a choice of location for my shoot; photos on location have the distinct advantage of a natural background, which can complete a well-posed photo, but a studio will allow me to fully control the lighting in order to complement the shot with specific lighting effects. A combination of the two, one for the front cover and the other for the main feature, may prove the best option.