DETAILS FOR THE PHOTO SHOOT were a little sketchy even by this L.A. native's laid-back standards. But maybe that's as it should be for any photographer who's about to enter a heretofore little known world of uber-subterranean cool. Apparently, I was to photograph 10 to 20 members of the New Orleans Carnival Kings (more on this later) for a documentary by New Orleans filmmakers Amy Husband and Rachel Jacob of Good Luck Productions. Fortunately, I had already picked out the location: one of my favorite go-to sweet spots whenever I need to fill my camera's viewfinder with urban decay -- and lots of it. Amy and Rachel had taped pre-production interviews for their documentary at the locale the week before and likewise found its funky aesthetic and architectural disrepair quite to their liking.

  Above, Good Luck Productions' Amy Husband (center) and Rachel Jacob (right) tape a pre-production interview.

What I knew for certain was that my assignment would be an early-morning outdoor shoot against the graffiti-covered brick wall I had scouted inside a dilapidated, semi-crumbling structure, tucked like a secret in a deliciously derelict, post-industrial corridor of New Orleans. I do know how to pick 'em, if I may say so myself. And, yes, the buildings were literally in various stages of collapse, as seen in the image below showing part of my lighting set-up.

Past experience has taught me to do two important things when shooting large groups:

#1. Pack virtually every piece of gear I own, plus the kitchen sink, into the back of my SUV, just in case.

#2. Configure subjects in such a way that each person “owns” a unique space within the shooting environment. To this end I had my “assistants” schlep all manner of items of varying heights for my photo subjects to sit or stand on -- folding chairs, movie-set apple boxes, directors' chairs, ladders, you name it. This guarantees subjects will be positioned at slightly different heights, angles, etc. This helps break up and create visual tension within the horizontal line. (A shoulder-to-shoulder group shot might work for a wedding or reunion photo, but it leaves a lot to be desired when the demand calls for creating something a bit more artistic.)

I knew something else about my session with the New Orleans Carnival Kings, a group of mostly cisgender women (plus several transpersons and cismen) from the Big Easy’s LGBT and straight communities who perform at local nightclubs in male drag right down to "binding" and the application of facial hair to create a masculine look. And it was this: I wanted to capture the crazy-cool, edgy and rebellious vibe of gender-identity liberation they express with such unabashed passion and fearless joy during their exciting live performances, which are, quite frankly, amazing to watch.

After determining exactly how many performers had shown up for the session, I began setting up my key, spot and fill lights – an 84-inch parabolic reflector umbrella, 36-inch silver reflector umbrella and 30-inch white shoot-thru umbrella, respectively, aided by my usual menagerie of Nikon Speedlights, attached to my trusty Yongnuo radio-frequency, remote-controlled flash triggers. I added another off-camera strobe (the pop of light from behind the ladder, as seen below) -- this one clamped to the top of a half-wall camera-left to compensate for light fall-off and to punch the concrete floor with a needed splash of extra illumination. Shooting large groups over the years has taught me that if you don't flood the foreground with sufficient, off-camera light coming from different angles, you are guaranteed to end up with demon shadows -- and not the good kind -- on your subjects' faces.  

Part of the fun I always have on this kind of shoot is when time comes to position everyone in their respective "image zones." As a rule my photo-shoot directing style runs on the playful side yet is designed to help my photo subjects find a natural body language with which they feel most comfortable.

"Who wants to straddle the wooden chair?"

"We need four people up against the wall -- but each one in a different way!"

"My two ladder peeps -- I need y'all at different heights!"

"You in the middle, tilt the cowboy hat back just a smidge so we can see your eyes!"

And so it went.

By the time I had finished making necessary minor lighting and camera angle adjustments, the shoot took about five minutes. Here's the final result:

Photographing the New Orleans Carnival Kings was a privilege and a helluva lot of fun. They might look badass in the above photo but they were also among the nicest groups of people I've ever had the pleasure of shooting and getting to know. If you're ever in New Orleans, you'll be doing yourself a favor by hitting one of their shows and experiencing first-hand what it's like when the walls come a-tumblin' down -- New Orleans Carnival Kings-style.

(In the future: REBEL, REBELS - PART II: Backstage and On-Stage with the New Orleans Carnival Kings.)