On the day of the shoot, photography and lighting was produced by myself as well as The Daily Illini Visual Director Matt Stepp. 

We wanted to keep the talents’ visual identity shrouded for the cover. To achieve this, the harsh lighting was used to do so all while developing playing into the original intent behind the choice of lighting. 

Shooting conditions proved to be a challenge throughout the session.  In order to accommodate individual schedules and tight timeframe to meet deadline — the day of the shoot took place during very cold weather. With talent having to take breaks and photographers swapping roles to stay warm. Nonetheless, the shoot was completed with a satisfying result to be brought to the editing process. 

I handled the photography post production, preparing both digital and print renditions of the files while touching-up images and color correcting/grading.

The selected images were then sent to Matt where he designed the final cover for the edition to be displayed across print and distributed throughout Champaign-Urbana.