My cover assignment for Fort Worth Weekly‘s coverage of the independent film Ticked Off Trannies With Knives involved shooting two performers, one director and one protester. I was able to shoot the film’s antagonist, Tom Zembrod, and protester and transgender person, Kelli Busey, in my studio. But Krystal, star of the film, and my cover subject, and Israel Luna, the film’s writer/director, had to be shot on location in Dallas.

My assistant, Amber Roark, and I met Summers at S4 in Oak Lawn at 8 p.m. We had an hour to unload, schlep the lights up a flight of stairs, set up, shoot and tear down.

Summers met us at the back entrance of the club and ushered us to the stage where we set up lights while she vanished into her dressing room to get into costume and makeup.

Fort Worth Weekly art director, Andrea Brentz, and I had discussed a cover that would be evocative of the pulp fiction novel covers of the 50s. Beyond that, Brentz gave me free rein to do whatever I wanted with the subjects. The goal with Krystal, as heroine, Bubbles Clicquot, was to depict a powerful and angry woman.

We lit Krystal with one of the Profoto 600 monolights in a 36-inch softbox as our main light. We used two blue-gelled Nikon speedlights for a rim light on her hair and left side to separate her from the dark background.

Brentz photoshopped in the blood-stained knife clutched in Summers’ right hand.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my searchable online archive:

Marvin Hamlisch, Dallas Symphony Orchestra Pop Series conductor, in the green room August, 2, 2010, at the Mort.

Hamlisch, a child prodigy who attended Juilliard as a seven-year-old, is one of two humans to win The Oscar, The Emmy, The Grammy, The Tony and the Pulitzer Prize. The other is Oscar Hammerstein.

We shot in the Meyerson’s green room, which is your basic DARK space with rich mahogany-colored walls. This was going to be an interview session, which meant I’d shoot while my colleague, Mark Lowry of TheaterJones.com, asked questions. While 11 minutes might sound like a short time, anyone who works with celebrities knows it’s more than enough time to make a nice portrait.

I make it a point to arrive at least an hour early to every shoot. I like to see the space well ahead of time and set up lights, test, and correct early. Typically, I have an assistant with me to help but none of my favorites were available today, so I schlepped the gear myself–with Mark’s help.

I used a 48-inch softbox with a Profoto 600 monolight camera-right and a white tri-fold reflector camera-left, just an inch or two outside the frame. Hamlisch, 65, had been up and running since 5 a.m. and was grateful for a few minutes to sit before walking into the Mort’s foyer for a evening-long reception.

Hamlisch is ever the gentleman and a delight to work with. His face lit up when he talked about the master class he’ll teach later this month for students at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Hamlisch, the teacher, can’t wait to get in front of those kids.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my searchable online archive:

It’s not every day that you’re in the studio working with one of your long-time friends and favorite models when 360 West magazine art director, Meda Kessler, emails and writes, “Hey, shoot me a photo of Hendrick’s Gin for our upcoming issue. Shoot whatever you like.” Knowing that I keep a bottle of Hendrick’s in the studio at all times, she assumed, correctly, that I’d be eager to come up with something for the June issue.

If you haven’t tried Hendrick’s, you owe it to yourself to get thee to a spirits store post-haste. A long-time fan of Tanqueray and Bombay Sapphire, I have now relegated them to mixer status. The art of the martini is a delicate one and for my money, Hendrick’s is the only gin worthy of my shaker.

Now one of the many great things about working with Meda is that she’s all about collaboration. She wants the photographer to bring his or her vision to everything she assigns. It’s why top photographers all over north Texas are clamoring to shoot for her and it’s why her magazine, now in its 14th issue, is so gorgeous to look at. Meda is one of those rare art directors who hires the best then leaves them alone to do what they do.

She does not feel the need to change or tweak or put her mark on a photographer’s work. Those art directors are the bane of any creative shooter’s existence. They are insufferable. There’s a special ring in hell reserved just for them.

Page 80, 360 West magazine's June 2010 issue

Every once in a great while the planets align and stuff just seems to work.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my searchable online archive:

Brooks and Dunn gave their final Dallas performance Saturday to a sold-out crowd at Superpages.com Center. While Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks put on one hell of a show, they don’t get that close together onstage–at least not during the first three songs, which is all the promoter will allow photographers to shoot.

My assignment was to photograph both performers in one vertical frame. That image didn’t blow my skirt up but this shot of Ronnie downstage was a nice moment.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my online archive:

Wes Mason, in the role of Reinaldo Arenas, leaps among the women of his Cuban village, while Fort Worth Opera conductor, Joe Illick, leads the orchestra during a dress rehearsal for the world premier of Jorge Martin‘s “Before Night Falls” at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday May 27, 2010.

Fort Worth Opera‘s latest creation, “Before Night Falls,” opened at Bass Hall this weekend to enthusiastic crowds and while the reviews are mixed, Fort Worth gets a tip of the hat for underwriting composer and librettist Jorge Martin‘s operatic re-telling of Reinaldo Arenas’ life story.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my online archive:

NYC playwright, Zayd Dohrn’s, Long Way Go Down will premier tomorrow evening, May 28, 2010, at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas.

I photographed Dohrn for TheaterJones.com at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary gallery this morning. We made the photo in the gallery space because I wanted a photo of the playwright that had a bit of mood and mystery to it. The shadow behind him is cast by the sculpture “The Way Home” a foam sheet/mixed media piece by artist Kana Harada, whose work is currently on display in the gallery. Harada’s intricate piece dominates the space and it provided a perfect gobo for this shot.

To create the shadow, I lit the sculpture with an SB 600 and green gel off camera right. I wanted the shadow to spill across the white gallery wall behind the subject. Dohrn was lit with an SB 900 in a 15 x 15 softbox, camera left.

Dohrn, 33, is the son of William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, members of the ’70s radical movement Weather Underground.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my online archive:

Filmmakers Jennifer Lane, left, Jill Pixley and Chris Brown talk during the filmmakers' dinner on May 6, 2010, at the third annual Marfa Film Festival in Marfa, Texas

Marfa Film Festival director/founder, Robin Lambaria, talks with filmmakers during the filmmakers dinner on May 6, 2010, during the third annual Marfa Film Festival in Marfa, Texas.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available, here, in my searchable online archive:

Ferrera teamed up with filmmaker Ryan Piers Williams, as both leading lady and executive producer. She portrays the soldier’s wife.

Ferrera and Williams paused for photographs at the Marfa pavillion shortly before their interview with Marfa Public Radio. This and other images from the Marfa Film Festival are available through ZUMAPress.com

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available, here, in my searchable online archive:

Despite the chilling effect of Presidio County’s finest, the crowd kept their chill and dispersed into the night.

Mariachis helped open the third annual Marfa Film Festival outside the Crowley Theater Wednesday, May 5, 2010.

Marfa Film Festival founder/director, Robin Lambaria, kicked off the third annual festival Wednesday afternoon at the Crowley Theater.

Presidio County sheriff’s deputies showed up in force to keep Marfans safe from loud music.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available, here, in my searchable online archive:

Blue skies and 90-degree daytime temperatures are in effect here in Marfa for the next three days.

Then it’s the opening night party from 9:30 p.m., till midnight with Valiente and Mexicans at Night.

El Paisano is filling up and for the first time, at least on one of my trips, Marfa is transformed to into a bustle of activity.

I met Boyd for drinks last evening at Padre’s and we’re going to get a portrait of him shot this week. Fueled by martinis, a buck cheaper than El Paisano’s, we hatched a plan–I remember most of it.

The wildflowers are fixin’ to explode here, according to Bob Dillard, publisher of the Jeff Davis County Mountain Dispatch, who tells me it snowed at his rianch just four days ago. I’m on wildflower watch for Griffis Smith, photo director, at Texas Highways magazine.

More photos after tonight’s viewings/party.