Purple Walls and 90s Rock: A Sunday Session with Comedian Nat Penrose
Scheduling conflicts are just a fact of life. I hate them, but sometimes things get rescheduled, pushed, and pushed again. You just have to roll with it.
Back in October, local comedian Nat Penrose signed up for a shoot through my community headshot project, "The Lab." Nat is exactly the kind of local talent this project was built for. Honestly, I got tired of seeing high-end photography gear only serve people with deep pockets. The Lab is my one-for-one equity model—my way of leveling the playing field and providing free or radically low-cost branding for the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folks who actually make Olympia's creative scene what it is.
The Franklin Harm Reduction building practically glows in the sun. My sensor was eating up the contrast between Nat's blue sweater and the purple concrete.
Nat and I hopped on a Zoom call to hash out some ideas, and a few days later, she was doing a set at Le Voyeur. I thought it would be fun to drop in and get some photos of her in action on stage. But if you’ve ever shot in a dive bar or a comedy club, you know the struggle. My 5D Mark III was constantly hunting for focus in the pitch black, fighting against the glare of a single, harsh stage light. I managed to pull a couple of gritty, worthwhile frames out of the shadows for her to use, but we still needed to do our actual portrait session.
Then, the rescheduling gauntlet began. Between our schedules and the chaos of the holidays, our shoot just kept getting pushed. Last week, I was looking at my calendar trying to tie up loose ends and was just about to email her when she reached out first. The weekend forecast looked surprisingly favorable, so I rushed to get her on the books for Sunday.
Sunday ended up being a marathon because I booked another shoot for the exact same day. I love being out in the world taking photos, but logging miles on the pavement with a heavy camera body and glass slung over your shoulder is a quick reminder of the physical and mental toll of a two-shoot day. Still, I would do it a hundred times over.
For Nat’s shoot, I knew downtown Olympia would be the perfect backdrop. We met up near Rainy Day Records, walked around scouting for cool light, and ended up at the Franklin Harm Reduction building—a space recently renovated by Artisans Group. I love purple, so I naturally gravitated toward this building like a bug to a zapper.
The second I fired off some test shots, the colors absolutely exploded. My sensor was just eating up the bright blue sky, the deep purple concrete, and Nat’s blue sweater. I knew right then that the vibrant shots I was aiming for were going to be effortless.
We hung out at that spot for quite some time before moving down the block into an alleyway, and eventually to a killer orange wall. Nat was a dream to work with. She showed up prepared with a bag full of backup outfits and a microphone as a prop, but we never even touched any of it.
The exact moment the standard "photo face" dropped and her raw, sarcastic personality broke right through the lens.
My only goal was to capture Nat being Nat. Somewhere between the standard poses, the "photo face" dropped. She let out this massive, genuine laugh, shifted her weight, and her raw, sarcastic personality just broke right through the lens. Some of these photos are definitely landing on my favorites list and will become staple images in my portfolio moving forward.
Artist Tip: To get my head right for this shoot, I threw on a 90’s rock playlist on the drive over. Blasting Soundgarden and Alice in Chains—the exact tracks I was listening to in middle school—worked perfectly. It had me stepping out of the car energized, focused, and ready to shoot.
Moving down the block into the alleyway. When the 90s rock playlist takes over, you have to lean into the aggressive music video angles.
