Bill Sallans Shoots the “Top Doctors” Issue for Austin Monthly

One of the benefits of working a smaller, quicker project is the fact that there aren’t as many middle people to go through to get ideas across to the creative director. This creates a streamlined workflow that’s more conducive to a shoot that takes about an hour. Bill Sallans recently experienced this when he did another assignment for Austin Monthly, a long-time client of the Texan’s.

I have been working with Austin Monthly since way back in 2011 or 2012 when I was still assisting and trying to transition to shooting full time. I have gotten to collaborate with several different groups of creatives who have worked there over the years.

For this project, Bill shot Dr. Nakia G. Scott, M.D. for the magazine’s “Top Doctors” issue, which highlights the best medical professionals in the community.

Working with Nakia was great. She was comfortable in front of the camera and has a really natural smile.

For this shoot, we had Nakia for about an hour. We did a cover shot on peach (actually shot it on pink) and one interior shot on grey. 

In that short time, Bill made multiple images despite not having the exact background the publication’s creative director wanted. The Austinite started the project by prepping with the creative director, Sara D’Eugenio, who then accompanied Bill on set to help things go smoothly.

Sara and I have worked together before. For this shoot, Sara and I were able to talk about what she wanted for the shoot beforehand and go over reference images and color swatches that she had.  

Sara wanted this slightly desaturated peach color for the cover, which I think ended up working really well. I couldn’t actually find seamless paper in that color, so we shot on a Savage “Coral” color and shifted it to the color we wanted.

This being an in-studio shoot, Bill had plenty of time to get ready ahead of Dr. Scott’s arrival. So even though the shoot time itself was rather truncated, it didn’t feel rushed because Bill could focus solely on his subject.

Since we were here in studio, I was able to set up and pre-light both setups earlier in the day. As a result, the time we had with Nakia was really relaxed and nicely paced.

Although the backdrop you see on the cover is different than the one used during the actual shoot, postproduction didn’t take very long. That’s another benefit to having the creative director with you every step of the way: Bill and Sara could work through any issues efficiently.

Overall, the retouching was fairly straight-forward. It was nice to work directly with Sara on a small, uncomplicated set. We were quickly able to review and get to some options that we liked.

Plus, it’s always cool to get to shoot for your city magazine.

Credits:

Creative Director: Sara D’Eugenio

See more of Bill’s work at billsallans.com.

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