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Fantom Island
DO ILL YOURSELF: The importance of a photoshoot
Earlier this week I showed you how to build a basic press kit, which is basically a way to brag about yourself but through a humble PDF format. Once you get your press kit out, hopefully you’ll start receiving (dun dun DUN!) press coverage. However, unless you’re Kanye, you won’t always be followed around by photographers with cameras you can disassemble, meaning that oftentimes when bloggers, magazines, and other press people want to use pictures of you they’ll have to resort to swiping pixelated Myspace pictures of you playing beer pong. Unless you have a photoshoot, of course.
Here are some tips for your photoshoot:
1. Hire a real photographer: Not just a friend who got an SLR camera for Christmas and carries it around parties to take pictures of chicks. Now trust that if there’s anyone who is all about taking bootleg photos taken on a $60 digital camera and Photoshopping them until they look all artsy and usable, It’s me. But if you’re serious about promoting yourself as an artist, I highly recommend dropping some dough on a professional photographer who understands stuff that’s kind of important, like lighting and focus. Another benefit of a professional photographer with experience is that they can help cut through the awkward posses that musicians have a natural gravitation towards.
2. Step your style up: Just because your mom liked the way you dressed up for your cousin’s wedding doesn’t mean that it’ll hurt to summon the help of the likes of a stylist, makeup artist, blah blah blah. I know I know…you’re thinking to yourself, Aww fuck that! I gotz my own stylee, son! Can’t no one tell ME how to look! (it’s true, your inner voice talks like a member of No Limit Records) And yes, many of you out there are very fly and can probably clean up nicely. But if you’re not, it’s a good idea to humble up, lest you end up with 200 pictures of you posing in a white tee in front of a Cadillac you found parked in front of IHOP.
3. Tell a story: the point of a photoshoot is to display images that will capture interest, fascination, and a desire to write or learn more about you. Remember that oftentimes people will see your photo before hearing your music (especially if you’re posted on a blog), and if they don’t recognize your name, the photo will often determine whether or not someone clicks the link at all. When someone sees your shoot, they should be able to get a sense of your personality, emotions that your work incites, sense of humor, how seriously you take yourself, etc.. For example, if your shoot entails you just standing there dogging the camera, it might suggest that your song will bring back memories of a middle school yearbook. I’m just sayin.
4. Have your files ready: As a graphic designer, there’s nothing more annoying than an artist sending me their Facebook thumbnail and telling me to turn it into a poster. Make sure that your photos are high-resolution (300 dpi is best), and you have color options for print (CMYK) and web (RGB). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, a professional photographer will.
5. Always credit the photographer!!!!: When working with a photographer (as well as graphic designers, engineers, other artists), the more you make it a mutually beneficial process, the better the results will be. In the same way that you need a shoot to show off yourself, photographers prefer to take shots that they like as well and that they would want to put in their portfolio. It allows them creative freedom, and also having you showcased in their portfolio will help publicize you more!
With all that said, I present to you iLL-Literacy’s most recent photoshoot, c/o the wonderful, magnificent, painfully talented Ariel Zambelich! Great shots in her portfolio linked to her name, as well as on her running blog. Besides her being kind enough to introduce us to Tilt, she’s also an amazing documentary photographer with a great eye for lighting and positioning. We needed someone to capture the fact that we take our art seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and her style was perfect for the tongue-in-cheek approach that we made on this one. I know it’s a little…different, but
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Click the jump for the shoot.
Click to enlarge. If used, please credit Ariel Zambelich (www.arielzambelich.com)
Many more to come!
