Adventures In Assisting: Out Of The Box

Another shoot with Bev Short for her NZ Tattoo project. This one was using the storeroom in the New Zealand Portrait Gallery here in Wellington as a set and we got to have it for a couple of days so things wouldn’t be too hectic especially since we were basically building a set for the shoot.

The main element of the set was the packing crate which I ended up making (and then destroying). The day I took the finished crate (unbroken) to Bevs we found out that breaking it was going to be a bit problematic. No matter how hard I stomped on the thing it just wouldn’t break, next came the hammer (that was possibly the smallest hammer I have ever seen) and after about 15 minutes it was starting to look a bit more demolished, although I managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder doing it (must be getting old).

Since this shoot was going to be inside over two days I thought it would be fun to set up my D90 as a time lapse camera to show what goes on (the video is done and just getting a custom music track from my friend Ben Capp) and should be up later this week 🙂 Its the entire photoshoot from empty storeroom to empty storeroom in 3 minutes.

The first day was building the set and initial lighting set-up which went pretty smoothly complete with fake dust and occasional issues with light bulbs.

Day two and Gillian Parkinson  (model) and Matt Middleton (make-up) turned up which gave me some time to take some shots of everything.

Enjoy

See finished image HERE

Box before destruction

Box after attempted destruction

Box in position on the set.

Bev posing for the time lapse camera

The time lapse camera up above the shoot and looking out to the gallery.

Custom dust placement.

Catering Trolley

Make-up under scrutiny.

Wood particle placement.

Eye lashes Matt made from peacock feathers.

Costume alterations.

More costume alterations.

Hair alterations.

Instruction.

Shooting.

Stand in.

Final Set-up.

Square Shots: Rolleiflex 2.8 E, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.

35mm Shots: Nikon F5, 50mm f1.8 and 35mm f2 Lenses, Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Film Pushed to 1600 ISO, CanoScan 9000F Scanner.