The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Scruffy Buzzards CD

Last month Scruffy Buzzards launched the new season of The Mill Sessions for 2013. We also just managed to get our 3-track CD released for it, although it was a close call and we all had visions of the boxes arriving 2 days after the gig.

The songs are also now available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon for downloading. Hard copies – on a disc in a cardboard wallet with the artwork – are available for £3 if you want to pick up a copy at one of our gigs, but if you want one mailed out to you it will cost another £3 for post & packing.

The cover photo was fun, though rather tricky to pull off. I’d had the idea for the image a few months before - probably after a debate about which tracks should be included in our set list for a gig, or a discussion about the musical direction we should be moving in. Throw any four people together and you will differences of opinion, musical taste and influences.

I played around with thumbnail sketches on the backs of envelopes, then eventually we found a timeslot that everyone could manage, when it wasn’t raining, and did the shoot.

The advantage of being a photographer in a band is it means I have a group of people I can try ideas out on. The disadvantage is the extra difficulty because I have to be in the photo at the same time.

I wasn’t convinced we’d be able to get the composition in one shot, so I also photographed everyone separately, in case I had to Photoshop us all together afterwards. In the end, however, we did manage it and the Photoshopping consisted only of adding a textured overlay and removing a couple of small distracting items on the garage door behind.



The individual shots didn’t go to waste though, and ended up on the banner of our Facebook page



and the one of John, the bass player, found its way onto the actual CD



I have to say there is something deeply satisfying about seeing your own photo on the cover of the CD of the band you’re in – and being able to put the CD into a player and hear your own music. It reminds me of when I published my first photo book, Staring Back though blurb.com. Holding this book – a real, genuine book, with real pages and my name on it – was a thrill. And I experienced the same thing holding the Scruffy Buzzards CD.

Now we just need to figure out how to raise enough money to make the album...

If you're on Facebook and would like to keep track of our developments, then do head over to our page and click "like"
https://www.facebook.com/scruffybuzzards

8 comments

Anonymous said...

congratulations Kim...excellent photo...it looks so simple till you tell of all the planning that went into this shot! heading over to Amazon to check out the band CD!!

Pat said...

You certainly got them emoting well.
The colour gives it a lovely oil painting feeling.

Kim Ayres said...

Theanne - good phtoography looks effortless, but there's always a great deal of work has gone into it either in set-up or preparation (or both) :)

Pat - I was quite impressed with how easy everyone got into character... ;)

Anonymous said...

Very well done!!

Anonymous said...

I'm learning that about photography...that it's more than just "point and shoot" :)

Went over to Amazon using my Kindle, what I ended up with was an MP3 of one song of the Scruffy Buzzards that had the photograph you choreographed. There were a couple more songs that also had the photograph...I couldn't find a CD. I loved the one songI did download, you guys are great...but if there is a CD I'd rather get that than download more MP3s. If you'd let me know that would be fantastic!

Kim Ayres said...

Allen - thank you :)

Theanne - we only created 200 CDs, so if you want a physical copy, I would need to mail one out to you. In which case send me an email with your address and I'll give you my paypal details. The CD has 3 tracks on it and costs £3 (UK), plus a further £3 for shipping.

£6 for a 3-track CD feels quite excessive (and we're still losing money on it) - but downloads are much cheaper at about a dollar a track.

Hope that makes sense :)

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

I went over to Amazon, you guys are good! Four hundred really is something else, with all the layers of sounds...I don't know music speak, 'layers' is the best I can describe it as.

Kim Ayres said...

Thanks Guyana-Gyal! And there's an opening for a Tour Manager in Guyana if you want :)

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