The magazine emails me on Monday, asking if I'm available to photograph Brian Setzer the following week. Since it's winter in Minnesota, we set up the shoot for Monday morning, in a rental studio. But over the weekend, it starts snowing sideways... and never stops. On Sunday, Brian's manager calls. His flight from California bas been cancelled, due to the blizzard. He needs to move the shoot to Wednesday.
Unfortunately, there's no rental studios available in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Thanks to some nimble phone work by the photo editor, however, we parley the shoot into the busy lobby of the W hotel, downtown Minneapolis. An amazing building, it was built a few months prior to the stock market crash of 1929: The perfect location for a media frenzy.
By the time I start shooting, we have a wardrobe stylist, hair and makeup person, multiple assistants, guitar tech, manager, body guard, wife, and Brian Setzer himself -- all on set. The only thing I don't have is time, with Brian's manager and the hotel staff telling me I have three minutes to wrap it up. Crossing my fingers that the strobe won't blow any more fuses in the beautiful, ancient building, I focus my lens and fire.
Posts
