Posted by Mr. Robot | March 27th, 2020 | No responses
Outrun, Vaporwave, Synth-Wave, Retrowave, all of that shit from the 80’s. I lived it. Now it’s back and in style. Maybe people will start thinking I am cool? It’s time for…
I remember the day when I became a rapper back in high school. It wasn’t because I had a talent or even an interest for rapping, but it was because I was trying to impress a girl who just so happened to set her eyes on some local rapper doing his thing. For weeks and weeks I practiced (like a dumbass) trying to make words rhyme over some silly ass instrumental CDs, and then I would perform them for her in my car. The memory makes me nauseous. My “rapping career” didn’t last very long, so I set my sights on being a disc jockey instead.
The love of music, spinning records, and trying to be the best scratch DJ that I could be. I eventually crossed paths with Charles 100 Proof Baker.
That was a long time ago, and since then Chuck and I have kept in touch with each other during these trying times. From his time on reality tv The White Rapper Show, to his career as a rap musician in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex with Pimpadelic, he has remained active in the scene as the solo musician 100 Proof. I must have photographed his album cover ideas at least three times, but this one is slightly different. The most recent being Sugar Man (if memory serves) to this new album which has Ted Danson in the title. Yes, the guy from cheers.
Light Setup:
2 Profoto D1 Studio strobes & 2 1×6 RFI Profoto Strip Softboxes on each side of the model. A Profoto D1 Profoto & Profoto RFI 2×3 Softbox. 2 gelled Profoto B10 OCF strobes as a backlight.
With all of the retro wave trending ideas, we had to stick to the vaporware color scheme. I know there’s more to vaporware than purple, hot pink, and statues, but we started off with that as a foundation. Color gels were selected, and I switched it up with a Profoto Silver Beauty Dish as we got tighter shots to capture that Miami style in the 80’s that Chuck was looking for. Imagine the sounds of arpeggiated synths and Roland kick drums playing in the background as we take a drive through the palm tree filled city streets.
Check out that backdrop! It’s amazing what you can do with emergency blankets. You know those shiny blankets that are supposed to be used for emergencies? Well we had several of them, and we pinned those shiny shits to the backdrop, lit them, and we had us a very cool retro mirror vibe. Not bad for a pack of emergency blankets totaling less than $10.00 on amazon.
Of course when the party goes Retro, we cannot stop there. No sir! We relit the backdrop with different color gels, and added some aqua to our new model’s face. The resulting skin color tone was a nice splash of aqua retro.
We had to go back and revisit the 1980’s photo shoot. The makeup and hair style was all too damn cool to not include it in this story. It all fits in with the nostalgic walk of what made the 80’s great. We shopped around a few thrift stores to find these awesome articles of clothing. Someone loved these pieces for a time, discarded them, only for us to find them years later. Here we are, photographing them with a new set of eyes. I wonder where these outfits will end up in the next 20 years.
Who will pick them up? Who will wear them? Who will love them for some time? Who will discard them once more for the cycle to repeat?
Hello friend.
