Fifty Cellos: Cello Photo Shoot for Advertising Posters

My photographer goes to college in the fall so I have needed to move up the plan and get all the pictures I need before she leaves. I had the first photo shoot planned in April but had to cancel due to bad weather. I schedule it again the end of May thinking that by then we would have good weather. A few days before the photo shoot, I checked the weather and it said that it was a 70% chance of rain/snow on Saturday afternoon. For some reason, I just felt like it would be clear for that one hour so I held off canceling it. I told the cellists that I would let them know by 2:30 that day whether or not our 4;30 photo shoot would happen. At 2:00, Brianna the photographer and I talked and decided it was a go. The weather was clear and she said that this overcast was actually the best for pictures so I called everyone and told them it was a go.

As I was calling everyone, I was surprised that a few of the kids I was counting on, bugged out last minute. I needed 14 cellos and ended up with 9. I was a little disappointed but knew that I should always count on things like this happening. Rather than get discouraged, I thanked Heavenly Father for blessing me with so many that did come through, for that was an even greater blessing. I put on a smile, picked up Brianna the photographer and a few cellists that needed rides and off we went. On the way, I did get calls from a few parents and cellists seeking better directions to where we were at.

When I arrived, it was pouring rain. I had a feeling inside that it would clear and had a real peace about it so I went from car to car telling the cellists and those whose parents drove that if it were okay with them, we would just hang out and wait a little longer until it cleared and then have the shoot. Everyone, was really great about it.

About 15 minutes later, the rain did stop. We had all the cellists leave their cellos and come to the orchard where the photo shoot would be and line up in poses by height.

We gave them an idea of what we were doing and then we had them go get their cellos. I had them put garbage bags over them until the last minute just in case. I didn't want to have any instruments damaged with water.

We then headed into the orchard and Brianna took these pictures. She is amazing and the cellists did an amazing job following her direction.

At the end of the photo shoot, I wanted pictures of each person with their cello. I wanted them to have one themselves and I wanted one to show the stars of the show in the lobby as people go in the concert. We let them choose their pose. Here are a few of them.