April has shaped to be my busiest month 2019. To make things more exciting, I was hired to work with a new band from the Columbus area. So I packed up my gear and headed down to the capital city to see who this band was. Ladies and gents, I present Gates to the Abyss, a melodic death metal band playing music inspired by Lord of the Rings. Ah yes, you heard me right, straight from the underbelly of Middle Earth itself.
Guitarist, Ryan Atkins requested me early January about getting something set up for that month as the band was closely approaching their first album release entitled, “Sorcery of Melkor.” Unfortunately, my timeline didn't match with there's, but we were able to meet a few weeks ago in the surrounding Columbus area. The band who are fascinated with the LoTR movies and pretty much anything with dragons, trolls, castles, and blood-thirsty orks, wanted their promos to represent something out of Middle-Earth. Well, traveling to Mordor was definitely out of the question, and New Zealand's prime shooting location for the film was another unrealistic plan b, so we had to settle at Blendon Woods Metro Park. Columbus is a two-hour drive from my position, so I didn't have time to scout areas, but Google Earth supplied the aerial coverage I needed to give the guys what they requested. Trekking through the mud on a brisk April afternoon, we eventually found a clearing in the park where the trees provided a reasonable backdrop to where I could later color grade the photos in post to achieve a weathered Earth.
Thanks again Gates to the Abyss for hiring me to do your promos. I had a great time meeting you all, and I'm sure we had fun cleaning our shoes the next day! Be sure to check Gates to the Abyss out on all the social media outlets.
