A Tuner's Life 1

There are times when the work is not always about pianos but piano-related. Sometimes I get the call for unique or unusual projects.

A couple of seasons back I got a call about a photo shoot being done here. This is the type of photo shoot called “photo murals.”

History:

Although there have been experiments with photo murals since the beginning of photography, the type of work that I am referring to is called “large-scale, theory-referenced, and carefully staged photos”. This type of art was pioneered by artists around the world in the 1970s and is continued today by Vancouver artists such as Stan Douglas, Jin-me Yoon, and Rodney Graham.

So I got a call from Rodney Graham’s assistant; they required an old player piano to be used as a prop. Further they needed a technician on site for the entire day to rewind the player rolls and set the instrument for the next take of shots. These shots were taken by what is called a 14 X 11 camera, equipped with 26 strobes that went off as the shot was taken. These shots were then blown up to 16 ft. panels and were installed on a billboard of the L.A. freeway for some type of advertising.

Sixteen takes and 10 hours later we were done.

The theme is this:

There is a piano in an old saloon. Playing the piano is a cowboy. Sitting on top of the piano is another cowboy who is shooting at the feet of a preacher making him dance. The preacher is played by Rodney Graham.

Here is a link to some shots of the set and the actors involved in the shoot. Enjoy!

Photo Shoot