Covid Safe Group Portrait

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COVID SAFE GROUP PORTRAIT

I had the pleasure of working with Rachel Rodgers (CEO of Hello Seven) for the cover of her new book "We Should All Be Millionaires" and to work on updating her PR and website imagery. Rachel wanted to create a large group photo while remaining completely safe and following all CDC guidelines for media production. We photographed everyone in pairs, over 6 ft apart as well as individually to create this 18 person portrait. I did pre-vis sketches of everyone's position and pose and mapped out the times that each person would be on set so that our props could be exchanged, prior to the talent's shoot time. Groups of two people were scheduled 20 minutes apart which enabled us to accomplish this part of our shoot within the second half of the day. Preparation and a fantastic crew were essential in pulling this off safely and making it look believable.

For my pre-vis image, I recreated the studio props in 3D using Blender and then sketched out the models positions and poses so that I would have a composition that worked and be able shoot each subject in a very tight window of time.

Rachel and her team created a great BTS Video about our process and her amazing vision for her business.

The following video is a time-laps of my retouching process. There is no sound.

Photography & Retouching: Dale May
Agent & Producer: WSW Creative | Watson & Spierman Productions
George Watson & Shelley Spierman
Covid Officer: Rob Andres
Digital Tech: Biagio Dell'Aiera
Assistant: Matt Roady
Styling: Elsa Isaac & Lauren Messiah
Hair: Simone West
Makeup: Adzua Rodgers
Videographer: Rasheed Ingram
Video Editing: Brandon Jones

Models: Rachel Rodgers, Raven Roberts, Susan Hyatt, Robert Hartwell, Paraganini Amin, Che Rodgers, Margaret Lowery, Ashanti Brown, Kellye Rowland, Leah Dubbin-Steckel, Denny, Diane Genorris Davis, Massiel Hernandez, Jo Anne Lee, Traci, Luthy, Angela Forcer, India Sims and Nikiya Wright.

www.dalemayphotography.com