Meet a Subject: The man we call Shrake

Today's installment of my Meet a Subject series looks at longtime friend Scott Shrake, who's patronage of my photography services can be traced back to the start of my professional career. Founder and creative director/visionary of DC's Story League live story telling group, Shrake has provided many performers with a platform for expression, identity, self-discovery, fame and humor. He also provided me with my first paid photo gig. Professional story telling is to me, after years of watching and photographing, an intimate performance style that is on par with the level of difficulty of good stand up comedy. 

Note: this is from my first Story League Show. Notice my clumsy inclusion of an extra microphone stand in the composition...

Performers have the stage, a microphone and a few short minutes to capture (and keep) the attention of a live audience of strangers while telling a story about their life.
This may sound easy but once on stage the performer must be relatable, attentive and in tune with the ever fleeting attention span of a room of strangers. The good ones make the process a true art form. To that end, Shrake has given me almost unlimited access to the cast of characters behind the stories told on Story League stages and the collection of images I have from venues across the District can attest to the ever growing interest in story telling throughout the District. 

I actually didn't realize until I started sifting through my archives for this blogpost that I have taken over 10.5 thousand Story League related photos. The array of backstage moments, raucous audience laughter and agasp pauses of performer enlightenment was a great trip down memory lane. Photographing the same theme or topic over a long period of time always seems to result in interesting, dynamic work and it's interesting to see how I kept pushing for new angles or perspectives during each Story League gig. 

Our collaboration extends beyond the stage as well, with Shrake offering to help me produce a series of Story League performer portraits. The idea is to work with a selection of core Story League performers on an individual portrait theme or concept. First up, of course, was the man himself and we scheduled an afternoon session on the day of a Story League show, which meant about 8-9 hours of me and Shrake. He jokingly calls it "A Day with Uncle Shrake." I call it one of my more successful portrait sessions to date. 

The session wasn't at all serious though..there was plenty of comedy, too. 

Thanks for reading!
Andy