Musician Portrait Session Story: Gary Clark Jr. in Austin

Back in the late 2000s, I remember telling Gary Clark Jr. I’d love to do a portrait session with him sometime. And I meant it the way you mean those things: sincerely, but with no real plan behind it.  Just the idea that we’d make some shots to share on the socials.

Then one day he just called. No warning, no big setup. He wanted some images that showed where he was at the time, moving from the kid everyone knew as a guitar prodigy into more of a grown, maturing artist. Nothing more specific than that.

He came over to the house where I had a simple backdrop set up and one small flash, nothing elaborate. I had a particular feel in mind for those shots, something quiet and a little dramatic, so I mostly just had him stand while I offered light direction. Turn your head a little. Hold that. That’s really how most of my sessions go, especially with someone like Gary, who’s a natural performer and, frankly, had already done harder things. He’d told me that acting in Honeydripper (2007) was a real challenge for him. Standing or sitting while I took stills was probably a walk in the park.

I told him I’d like to shoot some shots there in my living room, but also wanted to go downtown and find something around City Hall. This is the part of the day I actually think about more than the photos. My car had no air conditioning at the time, so I told him he’d have to drive. He showed up in this Cadillac, vintage, in the way that means it had some age and some character. Somebody had snapped the antenna off it, probably the night before. On the way across the river to downtown, Gary asks, dead serious, “Why would someone do that, Ed, why?” Mocking a sense of seriousness, I just said, “Because some people are assholes, Gary.”  Still makes me chuckle just thinking about that.

That’s usually how my sessions actually feel. We’re working, but we’re also just talking, and something dumb happens, and it becomes part of the day. Just hanging out with someone and making pictures in between.

We shot around Austin City Hall and in the stairwell of the parking structure underneath it. I brought one DSLR, two basic lenses, and a small on-camera flash. That’s it. No assistant, no lighting setup, nothing to break down between shots. Keeping the gear minimal like that is part of why we could just decide to keep going somewhere else on a whim. There was nothing to pack up except a camera bag.

One of my favorite shots from that day is outside City Hall, Gary sitting with a cigarette. It’s not really about the cigarette. It’s a prop that helps deliver an attitude, tells a story. I still have that one and a couple of the studio portraits. A lot of the rest of the downtown shots I lost years later in an apartment fire, which is its own story for another time.

I’ve had a handful of sessions like this one over the years. I shot Ray Benson from Asleep at the Wheel for various uses, including the life-sized cutout that’s still likely up at the Austin airport, along with some album art. Carolyn Wonderland’s older album, Miss Understood, used a live shot of mine that the album designer came across and asked to use. I also got invited to shoot documentary style the day the mayor proclaimed Carolyn Wonderland Day in Austin, also at City Hall.  Coincidence?  Not really, at the time, it was one of the more interesting new buildings in the area; lots of places around it to frame up a shot.

None of those other shoots started with a shot list either. Someone needed or wanted pictures, I showed up with not much gear, and we found the images as we went. I think that’s just how I work best, with musicians or with anyone else. Give me a person and a little room to move, and I’ll figure out the rest.

If you’re a musician or artist who needs portraits, press images, or something for a release, I’d be glad to talk about it. You can reach out anytime.