The great thing about shooting one half of Heavy Weather for a cover story (Justin Davis, who is starting Keep Station Radio in St. John’s) is that the other half of Heavy Weather (Adam Penney) shows up with a pile of intricate, expensive lighting that helped take Joel’s eye and signature Photoshop finishes to a beautiful place. Adam is a kind guy with a lot of gear to share, and wisdom too: you’d have needed a PhD in photography to have followed his and Joel’s conversation. And Justin … Justin was up for anything. We pitched him the concept, and he showed up with this dapper suit on, and even picked that daisy up off the floor and pinned it on at the last minute. Makes the shot complete? That and how at home he looks in this recreation of Johnny Carson era broadcasting.
An initial thought was to have this mug covering Justin’s face, with the station’s logo on there, so our cover wasn’t just another face on a paper. But the man’s too photogenic.
The photoshoot took place on the second level of the old Ebb & Flow space on Water Street. It’s where Keep Station will be setting up shop, thanks to the building’s owner, and a strong supporter of Keep Station, Dave Hopley, who’s lending them the headquarter space for the time being. Dave also makes an appearance in another section of issue 2: we profile the story of how Rocket Bakery came to be. Hopley is a co-owner of Rocket.
Ultimately, it was this snap, taken for fun in between between concept ideas, that made the cover. We’d decided the headphones weren’t working as a prop, they were too big. But Joel and Justin got to playing around with this in-action shot, and it worked. As Joel sifted through a hundred shots from this photoshoot, this one stood out, and discussion ensued as to whether or not is was the one.
Looks great! The photography in the Overcast is really excellent.
Thanks, Ruby. We’re thrilled Joel is onboard. And such a great guy to work with as well.