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I’ve had a pretty good run of celebrity shoots lately…Frankie Valli, Ricky Gervais, Tony Bennett, Spike Lee, Willem Dafoe…and I’m trying my best to catch up on the behind-the-scenes on most of them. This shoot with Seth Meyers was actually shot back in February, but it just published a few weeks ago in the latest issue of Amtrak’s ‘Arrive’ magazine. Rob Smith…Arrive’s Art director and one of my oldest friends…had a few thoughts on what he wanted to do with the shoot, and I had a couple of ideas as well, so we drove out to Queens where all the prop warehouses have moved to see if anything got us going…
Since Seth was the Head Writer at SNL, we both stopped when we came across these old desks and typewriters…
Next, we brainstormed a few shots based on the idea that Seth was not only moving from Saturday Night Live to the Late Night program, but when the story was scheduled to run Seth was supposed to be taking the show on the road. Moving his stuff in a little red wagon just made sense…
With the van full of dusty old props, we headed down to Bathhouse Studios…truly one of the nicest places you can shoot at in all Manhattan…and got to work…
Unlike the low-key shoot with Willem Dafoe last week, this time the studio was filled with multiple stylists, make-up and hair people, and more NBC publicists than I’ve ever seen gathered in one place!
And I know it might not look like much in these BTS photos…but dropping Seth into that precisely focussed spot of light against the cyc background created just the right amount of drama…it was all about Seth going out on his own…
Here are some of the final selects…
Now where did we put that red wagon…
By the way…for all you lighting geeks out there…I am seriously loving the Rime Lite deep octas…as long as you know a bit about lighting, they’ll give you everything you expect out of a Broncolor Para, but for less than one-tenth the price!
And since a lot of people figured that Seth taking on Late Night was a bit of a leap…
…I thought having him stepping into the unknown kind of worked the metaphor nicely…
Next, we moved on to our cover setup…
…which gave us both our cover and a pulled-back shot for the table of contents page…
So thanks to the huge team it took to pull this off and make things come off so smoothly, but especially thanks to Seth for giving up his time and being such a good sport!
Damn Ugly Photography 
Reblogged this on Eli Center and commented:
Amateur golfers like to watch the PGA tournament. Tennis players, Wimbledon. And once upon a time, home cooks watched Julia Child.
I get a huge kick out of following Brad Trent’s work.
Cool as hell. As usual. Also, what Eli said.
And everyone lived happily ever after…
Nicely done Mr. Trent. Wait, did you call me old?
Old…no…..OLDEST!!! BT
GORGEOUS, YET AGAIN!
Nice work Brad. We are proud of you!
how do you manage to do what you want without that army of people distracting you?
Ditto, ditto! Love the light, the cyc and the simple propping.
Thoughts on the Rimelite vs the Elinchrom deep octa? Looks like that one is a little more parabolic. My Elinchrom 100cm deep tore around one of the ribs on a shoot a few weeks ago, and I’m debating fixing it or buying something else / another one. Even if I fix it, I’m worried it’ll give way on a shoot again. That Rimelite looks like the edges flare a little more, where the elinchrom ones end up a little more parallel.
Great work, as usual!
I own the 39″ Rotalux…and it’s fine…but man, it’s not a well-designed piece of lighting gear. I hate the built-in mounting ring (I have very long arms and it’s still a chore to get those rods into the ring!), and the fabric…like all Elinchrom light banks…is so Goddamned flimsy it will tear if you sneeze at it. I mean, that’s the reason you want to try something else! The 35″ Rime Lite is about $75 cheaper and built a lot better. Of course, you gotta buy the Rime Lite ring so the final cost ends up being a bit of a wash, but you can use it with all the Rime Lite banks. I really like the quality of light out of both of them, but I don’t see myself buying any more Elinchrom banks. I also have the 3′ Creative Light Octa which is almost exactly like the much more expensive Profoto 3 footer and while it’s not as deep as either the Elinchrom or the Rime Light, it’s still one of my go-to soft lights. BT
Good info. Will probably end up just getting the Rimelite then.
Curiosity though, What’s the huge para behind you? Fill to get the Cyc up to the gray value you wanted?
Yeah…that’s a 79″ Rime Lite we used for a just bit (maybe 3/4 stop) of overall fill. BT
Ah, or in the stepping off the apple box shot, it’s the hot spot behind him. I derp.
BTW, here’s a speed ring for this box (just bought the 47″, damn you Brad and your damn ugly, and it’s about half price. Seems very well built with a 3/8″ tap in the bottom so whatever light you’re using doesn’t have to hold the weight of the box:
http://tinyurl.com/q8ogrra
Beautiful set of images and I love the lighting Brad! I just discovered your photography. Great for inspiration!
I also appreciate that you answered Keith’s questions about the lighting modifiers. Very informative. 🙂
I bought the rimelite… you could knock a man out with the speedring. This thing is built like a tank! Solid recommendation.