Louis Knight
American Idol / Season 3 / Top 7 finalist
“James brought a creative focus that helped me visually identify myself and my brand. He was able to capture both my commitment as a songwriter and my more playful personality”
A gifted singer-songwriter and pianist, Louis was told by Luke Bryan " I think you might be the biggest star we've ever had on American Idol".
When I met Louis, we were introduced by his manager in "MilkBoy", in trendy South Street, Philadelphia. I snapped a few pictures of him as I listened to him playing keyboard, using the end of the bar to make it look as though he was sitting at a grand piano. I sent the pictures the following day. He loved them.
A few weeks later, I was engaged to shoot a mixture of studio head-shots for official use, and some lifestyle shots for social media/album artwork.
For a 19-year-old, Louis is a complex guy. As was pointed out on the show, his songwriting talent is beyond his years, and his audition song was an original, entitled "Change", about the suicide of his friend, Russel. It was pretty serious stuff.
When I met Louis, i was surprised to discover he was bubbly, with high-energy and with a cheeky sense of humor. We talked for a while and I explained how I'd like to capture these two sides to his personality. He agreed, and we shot in a local studio, as well as various locations around Philadelphia, using a mixture of traditional and modern editing styles for his head-shots and social channels.
