WHEN WE BEGAN SHOOTING CONTENT FOR NA-ME-RES’ ANNUAL REPORT THE DESIGN TEAM LET US KNOW THAT THEY’D LIKE FOR THE COVER TO BE FROM THE MEDICINE GARDEN
With no particular direction in mind- other than something involving the residents, preferably- it was up to us to shoot as much as possible while we were there on a September afternoon.
Having shot with Na-Me-Res for about 5 years now we know how uncomfortable majority of the residents are when it comes to photography, being photographed, and being included in photos in any capacity, so it came to no surprise when most residents asked to not have their faces shown (but agreed to some detail/from behind shots).
We shot most of the other content before the medicine garden so we tried to pull some inspiration from other shoots but were still unsure. One day Ethan, kind of jokingly kind of serious, said “what about a detail hand shot of someone stroking their hand along the garden, kind of like Thanos in the last scene of Infinity War?” (we’re into the Avengers, don’t judge!) It sounded silly to say but we both understood and thought it was a good reference.
We were lucky to have set up this shoot with some of the residents from the Sagatay program who tend to the garden on a weekly basis and will harvest from it, and it so happens that this was likely to be their last harvest for the season!
See more photos below…
The progression of building up to the hero shot was interesting, considering our restrictions (so many of the men being uncomfortable being photographed) so we worked our way around the garden as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. The guys are always great, often giving us some of their harvest to taste and sharing stories about how gardening has been that year. We tried to sneak in a few shots of different men grabbing peas from above, and even an attempt at a down low shot (like the Infinity War reference) but didn’t love it. Finally, towards the end of the shoot, the sun came out in full force and everything lined up!
