Left on Aster St
Band Photographer for gigs, social media, and cover art
The Client
Left on Aster St is a modern-garage, alt-punk/emo band local to Victoria, British Columbia. The band was formed by students that were going to Mt.Douglas Secondary School in 2016. That same year, they entered a battle of the bands and won a record deal with a local recording studio. This led to the creation of their first EP "Left on Aster St.". In 2019, they began the journey of making a full album which was released in 2021.
The Projects
The band asked me to create album art for their new album and take some photographs for their social media. I first got some group shots of the band in the studio when I met to brainstorm cover art ideas. They wanted something candid, fun, but with dark lighting. They also wanted to handwrite the title, "Self-Help, Self-Pity", onto the cover.
In addition to album art and social media photographs from that shoot, I also take photographs of the gigs that Left on Aster St. performs at.
The Result
The cover art project led to several social media pictures and ultimately narrowed them down to three different images for the cover art. I created drafts by editing the images and using a sample handwriting font to get a general idea of what the band wanted to use. The final image chosen was the rooftop parking lot shot where the band clustered under a street lamp. I used the warm colours from the street lamp for the colouring of the font and blended the band's name into the pavement colour.
With the photographs specifically meant for social media, I tried to use fun angles and focus on instruments surrounding the band. This adds an accent to the photographs I took of the band straight on while playing their music.
The links below showcase a live example of my work on Left on Aster St.'s Spotify and Instagram.