I recently had the opportunity—the privilege, if you will—to photograph legendary jazz saxophonist Thomas ”Bunny” Clyde on St. Patrick’s Day. A friend of mine had recommended me to “Bunny” to take some promotional photos for some upcoming studio work,and he needed them on the quick. To fill in those not familiar with the artist, Bunny Clyde’s resumé reads like a who’s who of modern musical history having played for Gladys Knight and the Pips, and sharing the same stage with Kool and the Gang and Jimi Hendrix along with a list of others that you can read up on at your leisure at his website.
We met for the first time in front of the BB&T Building on Broadway in Asheville. At my urging, I persuaded Bunny to allow me to take some location shots downtown, emphasizing his connection he’s had with the city over the decades as well as his globetrotting sessions in cities on several continents. It was a last minute decision to go out that day as the weather was in the 70’s and not a drop of rain to be found. I put on my street photographer’s cap and encouraged “Bunny” to just be natural and play some arpeggiated riffs while I took some candid shots. This being Asheville, playing on the sidewalks is hardly an anomaly, but the combination of camera flash and his slick attire definitely drew some attention from pedestrians.
[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/8584227196[/flickr]
I chose several landmarks that I felt would lend an element of history to the shots and chronicling his connection to the downtown music scene. The art deco architecture that graces the sidewalks of the city renders smokey imagery of the golden age of Jazz and the thriving nightclub scene that was a primary source for personal entertainment before the appearance of television and iPods!
[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/8583127269[/flickr]
[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/8583128069[/flickr]
Having tested our limits for walking up hills and into back alleys for location shots, I rather pushed to try our hands at some quick “studio” shots at this house. As the day was coming to an end, I thought it best to at least try some test shoots to see what we may like to try again for a more formal session. Having arrived at his house, the one obstacle we came across that entire afternoon was space limitations inside his home. His back porch on the other hand was far more spacious allowing me to set up umbrellas, backdrops and use my longer lenses (even if I had to step outside through the screen door to get a shot or five). I concluded that as the sun began to set, that I can easily set up my lights and not be too concerned about any ambient daylight influencing my white balance from the controlled environment.
[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/8583130315[/flickr]
After a quick set up, we took a number of shots. Since we were limited on time, I decided to work around any issues such as glare on his eyeglasses while trying to maintain separation between his black hat and the black backdrop. I was striving for that Film Noir look (and inspired by those iconic black and white photos of jazz legends) and chose a silver umbrella to emphasize contrast since I knew that I could work with the results in the little time we had. After 30 minutes, we had to tear down as he had family coming over. Surprisingly, I found that some of the shots with the silver umbrella reflecting off his glasses added a nice dimension—a sparkle—to the final images.
[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/8583998784[/flickr]
[flickr]http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_longobardi/8583995188[/flickr]
Overall, a really good session. You can purchase Bunny’s CD White Street at CD Baby. When you get the chance, run, don’t walk, to catch Bunny Clyde when he’s in Asheville, or any city he’s gigging.
For more photos, visit the Bunny Clyde set on Flickr.
