Tallgrass Brewing Co. shoot

My friend Spencer Lott is a genius. He is an incredibly talented puppeteer, actor, writer and comedian who also happens to be one of my best friends. (Side note: Spencer’s “Cupcake” video was recently featured on Funnyordie.com, check it out here)

So when he told me he’d been approached by Tallgrass Brewing Co. to help promote their new beer, Velvet Rooster, I was not at all surprised. When he asked if I could help him with some promotional shots of the puppet he built, I was pumped.

Spencer had already filmed a hilarious commercial with the puppet, Victor R. Bantum, which you should watch here.

We met up on Sunday in Kansas City for a very quick shoot. Forgetting my sync cord in Lawrence, I used window light, and the modeling light on my AlienBee B800, which ened up working out quite nicely. Here are some photos from the shoot, including a couple of the processed images:

Spencer preparing Victor for the shoot.

Spencer in action.

seeing lawrence, a couple more

Here are two more images I shot on Sunday. The more I shoot on this project, the more scenes I see that I want t shoot. My love of Robert Frank’s The Americans drew my eye to this huge row of American flags in front of a new retirement home near my apartment. I used a slow shutter to give the flags a little blur, as it was an especially windy day. I’m not sure yet if I quite captured these flags like I want to, but I drive past this place everyday so I may be revisiting this scene.

I’m hoping in a couple months I can edit down a selection and get this series shown somewhere.