Hilltop Hoods (Drinking From The Sun – Various Covers), February ’12

Was on location with the Hilltop Hoods a couple of weeks ago for a shoot that would be used on the covers of various street press publications and in daily newspapers around the country to promote their new album “Drinking From The Sun“.

The brief was to shoot 7 different looking concepts all within the one shoot, as each publication needed to look visually different to the other.

With the help of Facebook, Haley and I had scouted locations around Port Adelaide that we could use.

We then took iPhone snaps indicating the basic composition of each shot we wanted to achieve and sent them to Hoods management, PR and the guys for approval.

We would have limited time on the shoot, and wanted to be as productive as possible, so a number of factors went into deciding our chosen locations:

  1. How far from this location to the next?
  2. What was the sun doing?
  3. How many different looking shots could we get at the 1 location?

We settled on using a bike tunnel as our last location. Of all the locations, that was one that was not dependant on any ambient light – the shots before it were reliant on some form of sunlight.

Our intent was to shoot the first location right as the sun was on the horizon, with the guys up against a chain link fence . The album title “Drinking From The Sun” lends itself nicely to a halo effect from the sun. A nice half body shot with enough room for a masthead and clear space for text would work well in this location.

From that location we would move to a open grassed area a short drive away which has the option for three very different shots all very close to each other.

Then we would hit the tunnel.

It’s funny how the best laid plans can fall short: come shoot day it was pissing with rain and every single idea except for the tunnel was now not going to happen! Argghh!!

Luckily, Haley and I had found some backup undercover locations that would also work, so we hit the tunnel first, then the backups and despite the rain, wind and unseasonal cold conditions, we got what we needed.

Ultimately, a single shot was chosen for the Street Press Australia covers, another for the daily newspapers and then another for Rip It Up Magazine.

I’ve also included some shots that were not run here.