This shoot had exactly one window: the single hour when a press photo was missing, a Japan tour was coming up, and everyone involved happened to be free at the same time.
The brief was both straightforward and uncompromising: a new ensemble photo of the Wien Berlin Brass Quintet for the promotion of the upcoming Japan tour. Plus individual portraits. Without Gábor Tarkövi, who wasn't available that day and had to be retouched in later. With a rehearsal break of the Wiener Symphoniker as the only realistic window. And in a location we hadn't picked — the catacombs beneath the Wiener Konzerthaus, in the musicians' dressing room, between music stands and instrument cases.
Walter Voglmayr — trombonist in the quintet — was the one who made the whole thing possible in the first place. He checked everything in advance, organised the logistics, sorted access, and even brought the photo backdrop. I was on site early and had everything set up so that the moment the musicians came out of rehearsal, not a second was lost. Thomas Jöbstl of the Wiener Philharmoniker — as a member of that orchestra one of those people whose free time is roughly comparable to a Vienna train conductor's at rush hour — still made it on time, coming straight from his son's school on his day off. That kind of reliability is not a given in this business, and I assume it's part of why he plays where he plays.
It went fast, it was fun, everyone had the easy tone among each other of people who have shared stages for years — and that came through in the picture without anyone having to stage it. Music stands were pushed aside, a few lights were set up, poses were tried, found, discarded again. At the end there was the group photo, a series of individual portraits, all of it within the frame of a rehearsal break.
Afterwards there was an espresso, because a Vienna shoot without a closing espresso isn't really a Vienna shoot.
Thanks to the whole quintet for the time, to Walter for the preparation, to Thomas for managing to turn up on his only day off — and to Gábor, who wasn't there but who, retouching-wise, still played the lead role in post.