Christopher - Denver School of the Arts Senior

When you've got a cello that's 200 years old, it needs a story. That's not the kind of thing that you find in a pawn shop. A 200 year old cello has a history and to have survived that long it probably has been cared for by someone who appreciates it. When I asked Christopher the story behind his cello, he told me that it was previously owned by a performing cellist who used it to practice in his hotel room. Apparently he would just sit in his hotel room and play all day on this cello. When it was time for the performance, it would stay in the room and his other cello was the one that went on stage.

I must admit, this was the first senior shoot I've done involving a musical instrument and I can't think of a cooler instrument to photograph! Christopher was a pretty good guy to photograph as well. We met up twice for his session: once in the studio and once in LoDo. Both times the cello came along and both times we had a lot of fun.

In the studio, we went with a simple black curtain for the backdrop, kind of like being on a stage. This was a great session to get to know each other. It was also a great session for photos! With the clean backdrop, Christopher and his cello were the stars of the show. The colors of the cello really popped with the studio lights and black background.

When we met in LoDo a few days later, it had just finished raining and the clouds cleared out just in time for our shoot. I knew that the cello would never see the light of day if there was any threat of rain, so I was relieved that the weather cooperated with our schedule. After shooting in a few alleys, we headed over to get a nice view of the city. As the daylight disappeared and the city lights appeared, Christopher just sat and played his cello while I took photos.

While we were shooting, Christopher's mother made a comment about how nice it is to do what you love for a living. Christopher is planning on going to an arts college and then hopefully on to a career as a musician. Fortunately, I am also doing what I love for a living. It occurred to me the next day that both of us were spending an evening together doing what we loved. Maybe that's why it felt like we could have spent all night overlooking the city, Christopher playing his cello and me geeking out and taking photos. As it turned out, we ran over the schedule by about 30 minutes. Oh well... his cello had waited 200 years to be the star of the show. I can spare 30 minutes.

To see more photos from this shoot, click here.