Back in July, I took the train down to Anaheim to see Family Thief, a singer-songwriter I’ve been listening to for a decade (no, really: he put out a split EP with Forever Came Calling in 2013 that I loved from the first time I heard it). He was playing the side room at the House of Blues, and one of the opening acts was a band called Cinders.
Cinders are from Salt Lake City. They’re an indie band and one of my first thoughts was that they were weird. Weird in a Walk The Moon way: when Cinders take the stage, they’re throwing a party - and you’re invited. Yes, you. What, you don’t know the words? No worries: you will soon enough. They hold up signs to help you sing along. Safe to say, I was hooked, so when I saw they’d be coming to Los Angeles (or if we’re being technical, West Hollywood) in early September I reached out to set up a portrait shoot. (Unfortunately, I ended up missing the actual show due to a migraine attack - ugh. Next time!)
I met Montana (vocals/guitar), Adrian (bass), and Brad (drums) behind the Troubadour, where they all got ready and we chatted a bit. Montana, Adrian, and Brad all told me they do well with a lot of direction and cues - so with that in mind, we headed to our first shooting location: a staircase right out back.
I had a lot of fun posing Cinders. They took direction really well but they also let their personalities shine through - and I appreciated that they wanted to keep some of the “silly” photos I got where they all goofed off. I love those moments (like Brad showing off his socks in the final photo in the grid below) - they feel like the best way to really give a window into who an artist is.
Next, we headed to a park right across the street (and, I came to realize, right on the border of WeHo and Beverly Hills). There were a lot of park benches and trees, which I thought would make for good posing opportunities.
We weren’t the only ones who had come to the park: as we were situated on somewhat of an incline, several skateboarders rolled past and photobombed. Just after the skateboarders passed, some of the members of Sub-Radio walked by, and Cinders uh… gave some greetings.
Before we wrapped, I had time to take a few more photos of each member individually. The light on this day was a little tougher than I’d anticipated - so I was super glad I’d thought to use flash (seriously, daytime outdoor flash = my favorite tool for portraits right now).
I really enjoyed doing this shoot with Cinders - and I’m really hoping they come back to the LA area soon so I’ll get a chance to photograph them live!