All is Fair in Love and Whiskey: Part 2 of 2

What I was trying to say with this piece:
The piece itself is a musician feature.  The images were built up as if a typical rock n roll article were written with in it.  There is no article that goes with this.

Ultimately, its about a punk rocker.  I tried to capture that punk image with environments that were grungy, dangerous, and distressed.  Ally ways, busted cars, and rainy roof tops can accent the subjects attitude towards the world, and speak in volumes without him even using.

I began the feature with a two page spread, black and white photograph (Black and white cause its a two page spread. 

I was originally going to photograph the model playing guitar in the same ally way to move the piece along and have some casual shots roll through with the beat up brick as the background.  ...To be honest.  I just felt its been over done.  So I told him to sit tight for a minute and I walked around the corner.  No more than 100 feet away was an old beat up BMW with a shattered back window and glass all over the place.

...I simply had to have this location.

I really just wanted shots of him playing guitar like there was a full on show going on outside with an imaginary responsive audience.  I feel people are most comfortable when they're doing what they love to do while in front of the camera.  It's moments like the ones up above that separate the subject from the shoot and bring them to life in my images.

In the far upper left corner of the shots above you'll see an entrance to a narrower back ally.  I used a wide angle lens to embellish how narrow the scene really was ("Walls are closing in" kind of look) and focused on bringing out a more subtle, introspective look for the outro shot.

The alternative roof top photo outro took place about 50 feet away, just across from the back ally above, at Urraro's art gallery.  I went over there and asked if it would be cool to get up on the roof to take a few pictures and they were totally down with the idea.  A big thanks to them!

I feel the dreary weather really helped bring out how much I beat this shot up when I took it back to my desk.  I grained the hell out of it for a real coarse look, made some bend marks, stains, and scratches across it.  Slightly blowing out facial highlights for an extra "Careless" look.  My theory is that so long as you know what you shouldn't do, you're allowed to do what's wrong if you mean it."

How philosophical punk of me...

And here's some extra shots that just kinda ended up in the mix: