Jamming on the Accordion

Tonight's assignment was to shoot a full body shot of Eugene Kobisky for a preview story for this weekend's Folk Festival.  They wanted a full body shot of Kobisky so they could use it as a cutout.  Cutout is probably one of my least favorite words as a photographer, because it means I need to blast the lights on a white seamless for an easy cutout.  That doesn't really lend itself to much of a creative portrait.


But I was happy to be photographing Kobisky.  I have photographed him numerous times at various festivals and fairs during my five years at the paper.  He's just a great guy with a wonderful attitude and a solid sense of humor.  Before stepping in front of the camera he warmed up on the accordion, which attracted a number of people from the newsroom to stick their heads into the studio and listen.  Once he was warmed up he got in front of the seamless and went to town playing a variety of songs.  


The session really only needed to last a couple of minutes, since it was for a cutout, but I let it go on much longer.  I shot a few for myself while he played.  Before he started playing he asked me if I wanted him to play happy or sad music.  I said "lets go with happy, we get enough sad in the newsroom these days."