Case Study: Marin Girls Chorus Rebrand

Marin Girls Chorus was undertaking an entire rebrand/redesign, with emphasis on a new mission statement that in part "empowers girls to find and use their voices through exceptional music education and the joy of collaborative singing." The brief for me was to create imagery that captured not just portraits of the girls, but their joy, diversity and the friendships and bonds that being in the group had forged.

In 2018, I attended a dress rehearsal for the group's holiday concert in the historic San Rafael Mission to capture the bulk of the images, the setting is fantastic and the girls were in their performance clothes. The day was a little rainy, which made for nice soft light for outdoor shots but limited the areas we could use somewhat, to stay under cover, so we tucked into doorways and alcoves around the Mission. A parent had some matching colorful umbrellas we pressed into service as props as well.

Once we moved into the Mission, I set up a pair of large strobes with umbrellas to light the singers, as the house lighting wasn't sufficient for the quality we needed, and there was no audience to interfere with. I shot the rehearsals of the different age groups from a variety of angles, and paid special attention to the downtime to really capture the girls having fun and enjoying the social aspect of the group.

The new website and branding was very successfully launched in 2019, and my images are used for all their marketing collateral and their impressive annual report.

Along with the rest of the arts world in 2020, they have had to adapt to COVID precautions and moved the experience online. I’m looking forward to being able to work with them in person again! Mosey on over to their website at https://marinchorus.org and see how they’re doing!