A Good Natured Riot's new website
I met Jeslyn Vaughan, the lead vocalist of A Good Natured Riot, not long into this whole idea of starting a business back in 2006, and it was in talking with her and getting to know the rest of the band that I soon realized how much fun it was to work with musicians. There’s a lot more creativity and, while there may be pre-conceived notions of what music imaging is supposed to look like based on genre, you’re always free to be open and encouraged to re-define and push boundaries. Fellow artists get this and fellow artists like this. That’s how we roll.
I had the pleasure to work on the second iteration of the band’s website in the past week. Long withstanding from my initial 1996 version was the ability for the band to update show listings themselves. That’s there now, complimented with a new, sleeker aesthetic. I don’t think I really pushed any artistic boundaries with this, but it’s always fun working with aGNR, and look forward to more collaborations to come!
In other news, I shot more photos with little Avery Paul on Saturday. It was a more official setting this time, incorporating lighting and with our minds set on artistic baby photography. What I learned (or think I learned) was that good baby photos don’t happen as a result of planning: they just happen. The environment can’t have four people standing over the child expecting he/she to smile, coo, or grin at will… because they won’t. Rather, it seems it’s about setting up lights, setting up a conformable scene, and then treating it like any other day. If she wants mommy, let mommy hold her. If she’s willing to lay around and be photogenic, let that happen as well. Most of all, let baby call the shots, and with patience, great photos will happen.
Avery and Daddy Doug
This past Saturday, we did not do this. It wasn’t until looking at the shots afterward, that I realized I enjoyed the ones of her after the ‘shoot’ was over much more then the ones we tried hard to get. Ones of her getting her normal baby clothes put back on by mom – shot upside down. Gorgeous. Ones of she and Daddy Doug sharing a moment. Priceless. The rest aren’t bad, but they seem to lack a certain whimsical nature. They’re too staged. And you can tell that baby is not about anything contrived.
Maybe we all have something to learn from that.
about the author: 
