Shoot Production: Verizon’s How Sweet the Sound

BY 1 April 2014

Over the past year, we’ve had the pleasure of working with Momentum Worldwide to connect them with our talented roster of photographers around the country for projects both big and small. Not only do we help Momentum find photographers, but we also work with them to supply cost estimates, negotiate budgets, relay production details and facilitate the invoicing process. Being set up as a vendor allows us to relieve some of the stress that Momentum might otherwise experience in working with multiple photographers around the country within a tight timeframe.

Momentum most recently contacted me to help them coordinate a series of projects for How Sweet The Sound, a gospel choir competition sponsored by Verizon. We helped them coordinate this project last year as well, and this time the tour would be rolling through eight different cities around the country. As shown in the graphic above, the tour began in New Orleans and traveled across the country, ending in Los Angeles with a grand finale featuring the top performers from each city.

After speaking with the art buyers at Momentum, we acquired a thorough understanding of what they hoped to accomplish. They were looking for photographers who could capture not only the performances, but also the scale of the production. Additionally, they needed to capture candid portraits of attendees, performers on and off stage, the judges, the venue and the contest winners. After making recommendations for photographers in each city, we hired Craig Mulcahy, David W. Johnson, Jeremy Deputat, Jonathan Hanson, Kevin Brown and Landon Nordeman to take on the task.

As the event dates approached, I worked with each photographer to make sure they had a solid understanding of the shot list and parameters of the assignment. I also made sure they knew that at the end of the night, Momentum would expect all of the images to be transferred onto a hard drive for the on-site contact to take with them. Many of the photos would immediately be uploaded to social media outlets, so it was imperative that the photographer was well organized and able to dump all of the files at the conclusion of the event (and sometimes throughout) as well as help Momentum’s on-site contact sort through the files.

The shoot dates finally arrived, and our photographers began the evening by capturing various moments of the introductions and performances:

Photography by Craig Mulcahy of gospel choir with two solo vocalists — *Photo by Craig Mulcahy*

Photograph by Kevin Brown of a solo gospel performer — *Photo by Kevin Brown*

Photograph by Kevin Brown of a gospel choir — Photo by Kevin Brown

Photograph by Landon Nordeman of a gospel choir — *Photo by Landon Nordeman*

Photograph by David W. Johnson of the Souls of Salvation choir — *Photo by David W. Johnson*

They also made sure to capture the audience:

Audience watching gospel choir perform — *Photo by Landon Nordeman*

Photograph by Jonathan Hanson of audience watching a gospel choir perform — *Photo by Jonathan Hanson*

Additionally, it was important that they capture images of people using Verizon devices:

Audience taking photos of the gospel performances; photograph by Craig Mulcahy — *Photo by Craig Mulcahy*

Photo by Kevin Brown

And lastly, they captured the winners:

The winners receiving their check; photograph by Craig Mulcahy — *Photo by Craig Mulcahy*

With images in hand less than an hour after the event, Momentum was thrilled with the results. They made good use of the images on their website, on all of their social media outlets, and they’ll use them to preview next year’s event as well.

To hear more about how we can help you, please send us an email or give us a call at 1 610 260 0200.

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