Ransom (which is actually Ryan’s last name) and I go way back to the JackThreads days. Since we’ve been shooting for the better part of a decade, we have an old, easy rhythm together. I don’t even have to speak as he moves from pose to pose. He’s also a fantastic stylist, meaning that he always brings the best wardrobe to our test shoots. This session was different than any of our prior sessions, however, as this time he brought his girlfriend Rose to model with him.

The timing couldn’t have been better as I had been thinking just days before how most of my test/personal shoots comprise of a single subject, usually in studio. I wanted to start pushing myself into new creative territories in the way I arranged and composed multiple subjects in a frame. This skill is invaluable when working with bands, which I often do.

I started off by playing with foreground/background, while using the red-yellow-blue color triad. I wanted it to tell the story about a couple that had grown apart in their relationship. I was happy with the resulting image, which felt like a movie poster from the late 70s.

I carried the same theme and color palette into the next set, this time using a broken mirror. Though I love the fragmentation that a broken mirror brings to an image, I am acutely aware of the fine line between art and cliche, and if I can’t find new ways of using the mirror I may need to give it a rest.

After shooting the two of them together for a while and working out my ideas, I invited them to share any ideas that they wanted to explore, and we shot individual his and her sets for the rest of the session.