Mikelangelo is the leader of the Black Sea Gentlemen, they have traveled many lands, over earth and sea to share their tales with a unique mix of story telling and Baltic styled music. I saw them in Edinburgh and instantly knew I wanted to take their photo, and as it turned out, Mikelangelo lives in Taroona, just south of Hobart and the whole crew was in town earlier this year for 10 days on the Island.
The shoot happened one afternoon in Taroona, initially we tried some set up shots inside and then moved out towards the river. Initially I was thinking of using the rocks that were easy to get to, but the gentlemen had other ideas and stripped off into their underwear and swam out to the rocks, keeping their hair immaculate!
Their clothing was taxied out to them in a basket by Undine Francesca and they balanced precariously when it came to putting on the suits. By this time, I was ready to shoot, but I couldn’t get close enough. I once again went into water for the sake of a photo, and got out to a rock that had a much better angle. Then we waited for the light, they sang songs, a few passers by took seats and listened,and a conversation was held with a surprised swimmer!
The shoot was over just in time, as the tide was coming in and Sam the Bassist was rapidly running out of rock to stand on! They swam in with their hats on and then sang some songs for a video camera, bobbing in the water with only their heads and hats above the water.
After the shoot they rushed back inside to the open fire that was conveniently burning.
Have a listen to them on their website, and buy a cd!
