A good friend of mine, Rob (fellow RVA runner) has created an amazing cartoon cat character named Hugo. He draws Hugo participating in everyday activities; ranging from drinking coffee to dressing up like Spider-Man and even downing his local favorite brew. The possibilities are endless for The Cat Hugo and a local division of NPR recognized that, so they asked Rob to use Hugo to aid in a fundraiser. He of course agreed and allowed NPR to put Hugo on a coffee mug (which quickly sold out at the various events). I saw a chance for collaboration, offered up my services for product photography/headshots and Rob gladly accepted.
The product shots of the mug turned out great but I was most proud of my collab with local graphic designer Matt Jones (Peace Of Mind) to help bring Hugo to life. Rob made it known he wasn’t a big fan of straight on headshots and I wanted to incorporate the possibility of having Hugo in the shot with his creator, so I settled on a lifestyle shoot. Testing out my newly purchased 50mm 1.8 lens I had Rob station outside one of his favorite coffee/Hugo drawing location and pretend to draw some new art. I wanted to take a series of 5/6 pictures starting with Rob looking up from his art, smiling then turning his head to see a pretend Hugo sitting on his shoulder. After a handful of test shots and explaining what I was looking for, we nailed it on the second go around.
I handed off a few of the pictures to Matt so he could make the magic happen. The end result turned out exactly as planned and the picture was used in the event’s promotional efforts. The Cat Hugo got to hang out with his creator and I go to test out my lifestyle photography skills as well as collab with another great artist.
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