Ever heard of moving portraits? Me neither.
But that’s the idea behind the Musician Portrait Project, a new venture between photographer Derek Brad and his business partner Jeffrey Rayfield. Their concept is to use silent video – shot with high quality equipment – to collect short vignettes of musical artists.
Jeffrey shared the theme of their project.
“As a concert and musician portrait photographer, Derek was always looking for a way to create moving portraits of musicians.
The original concept was for five minute videos. Derek filmed himself for five minutes and learned that it felt like an eternity. As a result he cut the duration down to two minutes.
Derek sets up and films artists backstage before performances whenever possible. By removing the audio, it forces the musicians out of the box and therefore, gives the viewer a different perspective and experience. Also, it adheres to the portrait theme. Displaying the videos in black and white is done for uniformity and attractiveness.
The vision and goal is to display the videos in art galleries, museums and other appropriate venues as an online display came about as a means to achieve that goal. In the gallery display each video portrait will be displayed on their own individual screen wherein the video is looped with the artists name below.”
They’ve created seven of these to date, with the latest being of Colorado’s Greensky Bluegrass, captured in one of the last places you might imagine having your portrait done.
Rayfield also mentioned that the company’s tag line is, Your Favorite Artists, Like You’ve Never Seen (Or Heard) Them Before! Seems about right.
You can see all of their moving portraits online, where Derek and Jeffrey are seeking other artists who might be interest in sitting for them.
