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I had the privilege to be asked by Alexandra Niki and Aurelie Jezequel…the team behind Resource Magazine…to photograph their very first ‘Celebrity’ cover, featuring Brian “Q” Quinn, James “Murr” Murray, Joseph “Joe” Gatto and Salvatore “Sal” Vulcano, better known as The Tenderloins, but who are also the stars of truTV’s The Impractical Jokers. The Jokers…in case you didn’t know…is a practical-joke reality show where the four guys coerce one another into doing public pranks while being filmed by hidden cameras. For the cover theme, Alex and Aurelie wanted to use Sun-tzu’s, “The Art Of War” for our inspiration, with the Jokers dressed as Ninja Warriors, and I was happy to pull it all together…
Aside from using a ridiculously expensive Broncolor Para 220 as a main light, the cover setup was pretty simple…
Alex and Aurelie wanted a very high contrast, red & black look for the shot, and I had an idea for the cover that was centered around the original Charlie’s Angels logo…
Not quite…
Closer…
Bingo!
…and the final cover image…
Next, for the opener to the story, we wanted to do a ‘reveal’ where they tore off their Black Ninja Suits to show their Black Hipster Suits underneath…
And after a bit of Photoshoppery…
Now came some ‘Hidden Camera’ goofs, with each of the guys hamming it up with a few not-so-hidden camera props…
“Q” the Ping Pong Pro…
Murr and his Monkey…
Joe the Big Gulp Cowboy…
And Sal with a drippy ice cream cone and ‘Battle’, the GoPro-enabled Chihuahua…
We finished things off with a few more hidden camera pranks, with the guys in their signature suits…
And finally, here’s a little behind-the-scenes video shot by Resource’s Adam Sherwin that wraps up the day nicely…
Oh yeah…Alex wanted to play Ninja, too!
Damn Ugly Photography 