On Tuesday, I shot Madina Lake while they were working on their new album “Attics to Eden” in a recording studio in New Jersey.
It’s always a challenge to make a natural looking “in studio” shot because bands rarely record multiple instruments at the same time. Each of the parts are recorded at different times so we have to set up a shot of the guys surrounded by recording equipment to show they’re in the studio.
After getting that out of the way, I moved them into the large studio, where there’s a foosball table. I thought it would be a fun prop for a photo, but I had no idea that these guys are very competitive foosballers. I just let them go at it while I shot away.
At the end, I posed them for a more formal portrait. I would have liked to get my camera lower into the table so the wooden foosball men were more prominent, but I couldn’t fit the D3 and 14-24 in between the posts without taking apart the table. I didn’t think the studio manager would be too happy about that, so I made the best of it.
The goal of a shoot like this is to get a few different “looks” in a short amount of time. The guys were a pleasure to work with and everything went smoothly — as long as I didn’t try to take them away from the foosball table.