Every now and then, you find that needle in the haystack. Thankfully a band with an insane amount of musical talent approached me and were in need of some promotional shots - stat! Please meet Blackthorne, a six-member symphonic metal band from Lisbon, Ohio.

The band announced some very big shows coming up later in the year to me and needed some updated promos to get the ball in motion. With little preparation time, I strived on the time constraint and we ended up shooting at the Variety Theatre in Cleveland. I was super excited to be back at the Variety Theatre. And this time, I had my girlfriend assisting me, making each shot dramatic and just plain "bad ass". Many thanks, Ashley babe! Another special thank you to Patrick Colvin for opening the doors for us. He has such a huge heart on setting this place back to its former glory.

If you're interested in their music, go check them out at the Agora as they open for Hammerfall and Delain on April 27.

The end of January, we were finally able to gather everyone together in the same location to get band promos done for this year. We've been trying to get some professional shots for over a year, but due to conflicts with schedules and what not, the band found two great additions to permanently send these guys onwards and up. Meet Nick (far right), the low-end guy on bass and Rich (far left), the new guitar lead. Both already mastered their set and added some great additions to the songs itself.

Tomorrow night at Tim Owens' Travelers Tavern, Flight 619 will be making their first appearance with the new members and already the show is nearly sold out. It's always a blast with these guys and I for one won't be missing it. So with that, I'm inviting you to get a few tickets (if any remain) for yourself or friends and guarantee yourself a worthwhile evening with great rock-n-roll. Contact Flight 619 here or on their Facebook page for tickets.

The Concept
When the band's manager told me he would like to have the shoot shot at their recording studio, the concept hit me instantly. Why not make it look like a writing session? So that's what I aimed for when I drew this up.

To paint a better picture in my head, I took a test shot of the angle I wanted, then drew notes from what I needed to accomplish. The major concern was trying to fill the right side of the couch so it would cover the furnace, plant, and the additional equipment lingering in the background. I placed a full-stack along with other speakers and recording equipment, which nicely did the trick. After a few hours of heavy labor and re-arranging miscellaneous items around the night before, it was a matter of just using photoshop to tweak the finer areas of the shot in post.

I used a two light set-up again but didn't end up using the studio window on the left to shoot my light through as mentioned in my drawing above. I used my tripod as a stabilizer in case I needed to photoshop something in without moving my initial shot after each take. 80's rock music blasting in the background and easy working talent giving me effortless direction to breeze this shoot in just over an hour. Mission success!