I will admit to being a HUGE nerd, and most importantly, a fan of all things Marvel Comics. I’ve been wanting to do a cosplay shoot for a while, but I wanted to make sure that the location, models and concept were just right. Luckily, my friends (and models) are big Marvel fans and I knew a great, versatile location. The shots were amazing, and really captured that old-school, graphic comic-strip feel.
This shoot was the brainchild of my assistant / fight coordinator / life partner, Brian. He met Chance & Chey on our previous shoots and thought they’d be a good fit for Gwen Stacy & Peter Parker. It did not take much convincing for either of them to want to be involved. We also wanted our friend (and Portland-based actor) Nadir Muhammad to join us for the day as well--Brian knew he had the height to portray Wilson Fisk--and he’s a big nerd too.
Our location was Ft. Stevens in Hammond, OR. Once a US military installation, Ft. Stevens gave us tons of different landscapes and buildings to use for fight scenes as well as character portraits. It might have been built 80 years ago, but it provided the right backdrop to give us the illusion of being on rooftops or warehouses.
Spiderman (Chance Adkins) and Spider Gwen (Chey Rivers) are both extremely athletic and flexible so they nailed the physicality and acrobatic style of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy effortlessly. My favorite Spiderman villain was always Wilson Fisk, better known as Kingpin. Nadir Muhammad nails both the look and the attitude of the character in all of our shots. Brian was able to choreograph a few fight scenes, and even made some spiderweb props to add some theatricality to the shoot.
My schedule has been pretty packed with lifestyle photos and fashion photos lately so getting the chance to do something fun and comic-themed was a great detour. We’ll be doing more cosplay shoots as the weather gets better and I cannot wait to put my own spin on my favorites.
I could not have done this shoot without Chance & Chey & Nadir. They were all on board from the time we started brainstorming. We had so much fun with on set! Non-stop laughter and we still walked away with some amazing shots.
I can’t wait to do this again! On to the next!