I’m in a balloon room

I’m in a balloon room, originally uploaded by CraigMarston.

Well, this is me, taken by Muel just to show I was there really. Although, like everyone else I have a sore finger and thumb from tying several hundred balloons!!

This set was primarily for the video which is currently being edited by Andrew Corr. Behind-the-scenes footage by yours truly is available at http://www.youtube.com/estebantv

I didn’t actually take many stills throughout the day as I was concentrating on the lighting for the video, which was after all my primary task and we only had the lighting rigs for the weekend. Kindly provided by a lad known as ‘Vicar’…

Scramble to Shanty Mansion

I received a call late in the evening, (well it always seems later when it’s dark) last week requesting an urgent photo shoot for a forthcoming single release. It was Muel from Esteban and he’d already spotted a location. How could I refuse?

The band met on Thursday night, and on Friday morning I received a message with the arrangements for Saturday Morning’s shoot – fantastic! Liam was going to drive to my place with Stephen, dump their props in the trailer, and head down to Esteban HQ. However, Liam has a new phone, which is nice, but he hasn’t figured out the alarm clock function yet…

I trundled down to Muel’s for a freshly cooked breakfast with him and Rick, and they explained to me about the charity ‘Plan’ and their support of it via the new single. To quote from Plan’s website at www.plan-uk.org,

“Plan is an international, humanitarian, child-focussed development organisation with no religious, political or governmental affiliations.”

I hadn’t seen the location before, so I knew I’d be working off the cuff which is a challenge I love rising to! I was in mild disbelief when I first saw the scene, as I would never have believed the collapsed ruins of shacks / caravans / trailers would be just left to disintegrate and act as a play area for local children. This last point is VERY apt though…

Esteban on Shanty Mansion photo-shoot Location

We walked round the setting discussing camera angles, until we found the perfect spot that contained the right elements. I then had to plan the lighting, while the lads dressed the set and changed their outfits.

I had planned to shoot tethered, but the threat of rain was looming with occasional tiny spits, so it was best to leave the MacBookPro safely in its case. I need to invest in one of those mini booths that also shade the screen from sunlight, but that’s another thing for my “Dear Santa” list!

We rattled through the shots, checking on the back of the camera as best we could until the tweaks we were applying had gone from moving lights and members of Esteban, to just changes of expression on members of Esteban! At that point several children dressed in “sports” clothing appeared and began pestering us…

We reviewed the images over a pub lunch (cheers guys!) and all agreed on one shot. I simple blemish-removal turned into childish face mutilation over coffee, and was promptly emailed to Ville at The Animal Farm amidst our tears of laughter…