Alexa wakes me with a chime, it is 6am. I have packed the car the night before with all my studio equipment so cup of tea and shower before a bowl of granola and a coffee. I am rigid in my imbibements, tea first, coffee until midday and then tea until after dinner when coffee it is!
Gary Nicholls
Travelling to a shoot is the boring part, 3 hours in the car to set up in a village hall and then wait for around 30 to 40 Steampunks to arrive. My book is in fact a Dickens style, steampunk themed trilogy, told in over 450 fine art images with text to lead the reader. It is image led and therefore I have created characters that each steampunk present needs to become. So, while I wait for them to dress and get into character, I chat about the scenes we are going to shoot.
The steampunk ladies look amazing all corsets and bustles! The men have their gadgets all copper and brass! I already have the backgrounds they will be put into, as I travel the world photographing scenes from Cambodia to Kefalonia, London to Edinburgh that match the images I ‘see’ in my mind to tell what is a very complex 42 character story involving over 150 genuine Steampunks full of murder, kidnapping and prostitution and quite a dark Victorian tale.
Monty has flown in from New York (he is a world famous steampunk rapper) and Julia is a singer, so they are busy chatting but Monty needs to know what he will be doing today so I interrupt. He is one of many I have to speak to before the shoot begins, today will be a long day for me, a party for them though as each persons’ shoot will only last a few minutes at a time and the rest of the time they drink tea and eat cake!
My images are almost like stills from a film, with some composites taking 600 hours to put together after the shoot, so the initial shot straight out of camera has to be right, for me to then build the story in photoshop.
A break for lunch sees them now eating sandwiches as well as more cake and more tea, but sees me going through the images I have taken and consulting my shoot list. A quick upload to facebook and Instagram of the chaos in the room and it is back at it, hoping to be finished by 3pm and head home.
Saying our goodbyes, I thank them all for coming but they have now all become very good friends, so it will not be long before I see them again.
The drive home I am buzzing from the day, tired but full of adrenaline. After unpacking the car and eating dinner, I upload the days images to my PC and try to resist the temptation to start work on them, but failing miserably, midnight see’s me still sitting there. A new part of the story forms in my mind as I work. Now where can I get a serial killer………
Gary Nicholls Artist - Author – Storyteller
www.g-n-p.co.uk
http://www.imaginariumtrilogy.co.uk/
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