Elvis Costello and his Orchestra - hammersmith Palais 1981
This photo has to be the largest group of people that we ever shot. It was originally used on the inner bag of the Trust LP in 1981, the Orchestra comprises of all the people who worked for Elvis at the time, plus the Guest Artistes on the Record, Glenn Tilbrook and Martin Belmont. You will recognize Nick Lowe playing Sax in the front row and the incomparable Cynthia Lole sitting next to Glenn. Barney Bubbles designed the Music Stands especially for this photo.
It was taken at Hammersmith Palais as that was where EC had spent many hours watching his father, Ross, rehearse with the Joe Loss Orchestra. Instruments and Dinner Jackets were also rented for the occasion.
Given the size of the place it took every strobe pack that we could get our hands on, twelve Balcar packs were spread out under the balcony, even with that amount of power, 28,800 Watts at full power, the exposure was only F5.6 (for photo nerds only).
What was great about this shoot was that everyone did exactly what we asked and paid attention during the entire process. Given how hard it usually was just to get to get Bands to listen to instructions it was incredibly helpful that everyone did what we said. But, this was a special bunch of people who took the photo very seriously, and I thank them for that...