It was great fun to work with Bella Hristova in our Tanglewood Camera studio. It was also revealing how the various art forms came together allowing us to get the perfect shot for her album. My discipline is in dance. It was my focus to look for aesthetic line and physical communication of what we were trying to say. Fortunately, Bella had taken a jazz dance technique class somewhere on her journey. “Close your ribs, isolate your shoulders, try lengthening through your spine” were some of the directions I gave her throughout the shoot. Bella was fantastic. She responded beautifully. Stewart Murtland, the photographer, was looking at lighting. He combined the magic of the visual and theatrical arts. Mike kept the concepts and sets coming, ever creative in what to try, keeping in mind the graphic art he would use to pull these photos together. Scott Faulkner was probably the most surprising in his artistic contribution to the photo shoot that day. He set the tone, made the environment relaxed and joyful with the performing art of joke telling… comedy. I had no idea there were so many musician jokes! He and Bella shot jokes back and forth for hours. There were times the laughter was so hard we had to stop the shoot, fix make up, recompose and begin again. The art of working in the arts, getting creative and remembering to enjoy the various art disciplines can be a magical experience.
Catherine Eardley