Anatomy of a Photo Shoot
By Shawn O'Donnell

You know what the hardest part of writing an article is?
Yep, you guessed it...the beginning.
So now that I've started I guess I can flow with the rest of it.
So "what" is an "anatomy of a photo shoot"?
In this case the subject of said shoot is none other than Richard Hatch...and this is how we got there:

When we did Galacticruise back in 2008 (now famously styled as Galacticruise: Galacticon II) which it in fact was...we gathered together some really terrific actors & actresses along with a whole bunch of really terrific fans & set sail for Mexico.
The most obvious talent that actors possess is simply the fact that they do act...a craft & a talent...however, the fans themselves possess talents...some of them are actors as well to be sure...but you find people from all walks of life that do various creative things, be they a hobby or a profession...well, people can be & are very accomplished.
Case in point, on board our luxury liner (dubbed Battlestar Paradise for the purpose of the cruise) was a gentleman named Chris Loomis.
Now besides being a very, very cool guy...he is one of those people who possesses an amazing talent..he is a photographer....actually an extraordinary photographer!
He is the kind of guy who could photograph a tree & make a dramatic & bold statement with it...I mean, he's just amazing.
Of course on board he had a lot more interesting subjects to photograph than simply trees.
If you go to his website you'll see some of those at  http://www.chrisloomis.com/ whatever the case you'll find that he is a very, very talented man.
At any rate, the one person who Chris wanted to photograph on the cruise...Richard...due to circumstances and commitments managed to allude the camera's eye.
So flash forward to the here & now...as in 2011...Chris had the idea still in mind and contacted me...and the idea of a photo shoot was evolved.
Here we go with the blood & bone of the matter...how do you bring all the right stars to align for this to happen?
Everyone has a busy schedule and Richard is no different...and maybe more so.
We had to schedule this a month in advance  & hope to hell nothing got in the way.
Welllll....apparently the Lords of Kobol were smiling upon us.
We literally did two video shoots on the same day...Herb Brunner, Cliff Gardner (they were THE guys!) and Chris and myself showed up at Bear McCreary's studio to do a video interview with him and THEN moved operations down to Hollywood to do the shoot with Richard.
I will note & thank both Bear & Kevin Porter, his PA...for allowing us to crash in on his personal time & allow us to do the interview in the first place.
You can see it now at http://www.battlestarfanclub.com/ it turned out great!
Anyway so off we went to Hollywood & Studio 1444 http://www.studio1444.com/ on Highland Ave.
Just a note of interest to everyone...this studio in FACT used to be a recording studio & both Janis Joplin & Jimi Hendrix both recorded there...so you know we were standing in the footsteps of giants.
Now I have mentioned the fact that we did TWO video shoots.
Let me explain.
The photo shoot was was part of it & the other was the video shoot....you see we have been putting together the DVD for the aforementioned Galacticruise...but when we got around to looking for footage of Richard...we didn't have it!!!
I mean we had everyone else!
Literally, the one major piece of the puzzle.
So what were we going to do...I think the answer is obvious...film a whole new segment with Richard & do the proverbial "kill a two birds with one stone".
So literally, this was photograph a little...film a little...photograph a little...film a little...well, you get the "picture".
One of the things I wanted to talk about overall in this piece is that when you see the end result you may not think of everything that went into it...you are too busy enjoying what you see!
That's perfectly fine & that's the way it should be...but conversely, a lot of folks like to take a look at what actually went into the process....either visually or through the written word....& thankfully in this case both!
At any rate..when you see the photo's that come out of the shoot, when you see the DVD that partly resulted from it, I think you'll appreciate the process even more with this little insight on that process!
Keep the Faith!
So say we all!