Dearest Lovelies,
We wanted to relay a particularly cool experience we had a couple of weekends ago. As the release of our EP inches closer, there are a wide range of things that need to be done. One of those things was shooting the album cover.
And let me tell you—what an amazingly, fantastic experience it was! Our original thought was that we were going to shoot the CD photos ourselves, since we own an Olympus PEN camera and it takes pretty nice pictures (the same one we use to film our videos and shot Taylor’s senior pics and our current website photos with). But, after thinking it over, knowing we are not even close to expert photographers, we decided against this. We want this CD to be the best it can be from all angles. After all, one of our favorite parts of consuming music is buying a CD at the store, flipping it over in our hands, and staring, mesmerized, at the album art. We want to give you guys something interesting to listen to AND look at!
Taylor has been following David Kasyanyuk photography through Facebook, and marveled at his works of art that would show up in her news feed. We were especially intrigued by his conceptual photography, which often incorporates some whimsical aspect. His visionary expertise was exactly what we were looking for.
As David lives in our native Minnesota, we had to work out a plan of action. He tasked us with researching the perfect location and we bounced ideas back and forth via email. David and his assistant, Kristi, made the 15-hour journey south, arriving on a Friday afternoon. Saturday we scoped out our locations, settling into the perfect one with just enough time to set up and take advantage of the perfect natural lighting he wanted.
In order to keep the CD cover a surprise, we can’t give away too much. What we can say is that our gymnastics and cheerleading years definitely came in handy. We also had to befriend a colony of bees…which at first, was a bit nerve-wracking, but I think they liked us.
*Nobody was stung in the making of this album cover!
However, Mom says since we were able to walk amongst the bees, she’s not killing anymore spiders or lady bugs for us ):
We were lucky to have Kristi on hand to give us tips on how to pose. It’s not as easy as it may seem! You don’t even think about what your hands are doing until you’re standing there, wondering, what the heck should I do with my hands? Her experience as a photography model was so helpful in guiding us in the right direction.
The whole process was incredible to be a part of. David had everything down to a science—positioning, time of day, stunts, and angles to shoot from. Being able to watch somebody do what they love, especially when they’re really, really good at it, was fascinating.
Like we said—don’t want to give too much away, but are so so so excited for you all to see the cover!
You’ll have to wait just a bit longer for our CD, but you can check out some of David’s work now. He is a photo wizard!
Cheers,
Chloe & Taylor
