Glamorous Jujubee

Boston, MA 081210 Draq queen Jujubee who recently gained national notoriety with her participation in RuPaul's Drag Race was photographed along with male models Zack (dark hair) and Ian (blonde) at the Oriental suite at the Mandarin Hotel in Boston on August 12, 2010. Photo by:(Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)/G section cover/ Photo assistant:Ryan McBride/ Globe Fashion writer: Christopher Muther
BEHIND THE SCENES: Having just come back from an assignment in Haiti the previous week and then to have to immediately have to plan this big-production photo shoot should give you a good idea of how versatile one must be as a newspaper photographer. I also learned that I apparently need to watch more TV since I didn't know who Jujubee was and my two little nieces in Oklahoma were all excited when they found out I was going to be photographing Juju.' On location were a total of 9 people plus myself: I had an assistant, the writer had another assistant, Jujubee showed up with a make-up artist and two assitants. We had two models and a very helpful PR woman from the Mandarin Hotel. My assistant and I arrived 2 hours prior to the scheduled photo-shoot time to set up the and test the lights. This took about one hour. Once Juju arrived we shot for about three or so hours counting the time it took her to change from one outfit to the next. TECHNICAL STUFF: We used a 1200 ProPhoto pack with four heads. For the bed shot we used: One 36" x 48" x 24" Calumet brand soft box for Jujubee and two heads with grids for the models. For the round table shot: One bare bulb light with a medium reflector coming straight from above (high noon angle) and then two bare bulbs with reflectors and grids for each model coming from the sides and head level in order to create more of a sculpted look on the guys. For the bathtub shot: Three heads with reflectors and grids. We didn't use a softbox due to the limitations of space in the bathroom (even though this was a pretty big bathroom). The round table and bed shots look was inspired in Film Noir. The bathroom shot was meant to evoke more of a party scene with harsher light. CONCEPT: Jujubee and her boytoys... writer came up with the idea. EQUIPMENT: 24 - 70mm 2.8/ Lens. ISO 100./ WB Strobe./ Speeds: max synch speed of 320th of a second to about 60th of a second to capture a little bit of the ambient light. Personal note: Juju and the models were true professionals with a lot of energy and easy to direct. All in all a great shoot!