For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a fun interactive photo project called Faces of Improv that I did in collaboration with Montreal Improv. 37 improvisers from the Montreal Improv house teams stepped in front of the camera, drew a random scene from a metaphorical hat to act out, and did what they do best as I took pictures of them. All portraits are going to be displayed in the theatre and the fun part comes when you, the viewer, have to associate the improviser with the correct scene. Some examples of the scenes they drew: a) You’ve just won the lottery. b) Someone just told you Santa isn’t real. c) The results are back. You're pregnant.
Like most of my ideas, this one came to me randomly in the shower, and a month later here we are. I had always wanted to photograph the improv community since they’re great subjects to work with as they can snap into character immediately and don’t take themselves seriously. And more importantly, they’re all hilarious and you can usually do more creative shoots (like in the shoot I did for Girl Talk as a scooter gang).
Monica and Katie (my former bio TA!) had approached me a few years ago for this shoot. You can’t be any more badass than this. Popeye cigarettes and scooters. And I had the chance to shoot with Tasha & Mariana again for Faces of Improv.
Below is a little preview of what’s to come, these are some promo posters I did.
I’ll eventually post them all on the website, but I really encourage you to come see the project in person! It’ll be displayed as of this Sunday (April 19th) at Montreal Improv. And support the improv community by coming out to watch one of their shows at the same time!
Thanks!
P.S. Hey les amis, le projet est bilingue! Il y a des improvisateurs de Montreal Improv et d’Impro Montréal et toutes les instructions et scènes pour le projet seront en Anglais/Français. N’oubliez pas qu’il y a des shows francophones et bilingues aussi.