ALY BAIN & PHIL CUNNINGHAM

Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham are by far and away two of the most influential Scottish traditional musicians of all time. Touring for over 40 years, the pair have played concert halls across the world and won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards – BEST DUO Award. Aly & Phil continue to entertain audiences with their tune mastery and hilarious stage banter.

I was tasked with creating new studio portraits for Aly & Phil for promoting their upcoming UK tour. I wanted to try and capture a a number of moods with this shoot. I was keen to portray them in away that shows the strength of their legacy but also their jovial and hilarious side. I feel when you are photographing people with a lot of personality you definitely want to tap into that.

I opted for studio 2 at the wonderful Glasgow photo studio, Broadscope. The smaller studio was adiquite for this shoot as there were only two in the frame. There is also some lovely window light that I was keen to use.

I used a single Profoto D2 1000W strobe with a beauty dish as my chosen modifier. I wanted to bring out strong features and shadows rather than a soft even look on the face that a soft box might be better for. The window light with the beauty dish combo definitely gave me the results I was looking for.

I chose to pose the guys fairly naturally but with minimal guidance they fell into where they felt comfortable. It kind of goes without saying, but I like to shoot the in-between posing moments as much as the posed ones, as that is more often where you find the gems.

I feel like Phil & Aly’s fiddle and accordion are so integral to their image that I wanted to get a good amount with the instruments but I also wanted to get some strong shots of them without to show them as the great individuals they are.

Studio: Broadscope Studios, Glasgow

Kit: Fujifilm XT4, Fujinon 23mm f2, Fujinon, 50mm f2, Profoto D2 1000W Flash with beauty dish modifier.

Band website: philcunningham.com