A little while ago I got a call from a lady who wanted to have some unique photographs of her two teenagers taken as a surprise gift for Father’s Day.  When I spoke to her before our session I asked if there was something that had special meaning that they could bring and she immediately suggested their instruments as they were both musicians.  That’s perfect was my reaction.  

The great thing about working with teenagers is that they are typically more willing and able to experiment on creative concepts with you. That’s what these guys were like and it was so much fun - we started out by taking individual photographs of them.  Then I asked them to get together and I started taking shots of them both, but I just wasn’t feeling it in our original spot and it wasn’t working for me.  So after a quick break I asked them to move locations and I had them sat in front of our brick wall in our photography studio in Seattle.  I placed two wooden boxes in-between them to provide a little separation.  Next came their hound and after laying down a blanket he was so excited to be part of the shot. I felt like this was shaping up nicely but it needed something else so I grabbed a couple of hats. One I gave to Kaitlin and the other I turned upside down and placed in front of Kaleb and placed a couple of dollar bills and coins in it.  It’s a little hard to see on this small web version, but the fact that the cap has a label with the words ‘New York’ really adds to it.

So I present two young street musicians earning some extra cash playing their instruments! 

Once the setup was done I fired off quite a few frames with different expressions and looks.   After reviewing all the frames the one above was the final selection and it makes a lovely photograph.   The choice for the presentation was a wrapped canvas photograph which really enhances the print with the lovely colors and textures.  Unfortunately the small web image above doesn’t do that justice so I put together this quick video below so you can see the lovely canvas photograph and how its wrapped around the side to create a three dimensional piece of art.   Just click on the triangle in the center of the thumbnail below.  

I hope the Dad likes it because I sure do.