Wrestlemania for Dade Freeman
I’ve been called a lot of things in my time, but “wrestling, writing stunt-musician” pretty much hits the nail on the head.
Although it does sound as though I stand in for real musicians, when a gig is too dangerous… Which, for the record, sounds like my kind of thing. I’m hoping Rob Zombie will hit me up for some stunt doubling one of these days…
Anyway, the man responsible for that flatteringly accurate description was Dade Freeman, a photographer with whom I had the pleasure of doing a shoot very recently. The theme? Wrestler. Obviously.
I was excited going into the shoot, because Dade’s work is stunning. He is currently working on a series of ‘character portraits’, which includes themes like Geisha, SciFi and the Day of the Dead, as well as my own comrade Robin King, clad in full Saxon battle gear!
Apart from his obvious talent and hard work, it was immediately obvious how Dad achieves such great results: he is a blast to work with. His direction was outstanding, he had a clear idea of what he was trying to achieve with each shot and how best I could help him do that. When shoved in front of a camera, nothing is worse than the deafening silence of somebody letting you…just…kinda…get on with…posing…?
He even let me play my own music which, to be honest, was a disaster. I casually activated shuffle on my entire music collection, very aware that the likes of Finntroll, Amon Amarth and Lamb of God was probably not Dade’s cup of tea…
On the plus side, I knew I also had work by Devin Townsend, Korpiklaani and Turisas: the sort of music you assume is a ‘happy medium’ for people who aren’t into metal…until it comes on. And you realise you have nothing in common with anyone. But also that you have the best taste in music OF ALL PEOPLE!
Anyway, when the sounds of Dolly Parton sashayed into the room, it left us both at a lack for words. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of Dolly…but it’s not the most inspiring thing to hear mid-bellow.
All in all, it was a great day out the the shots look great. It was also my first ever trip to Brighton – but don’t tell anybody that… Dade even managed to catch me out of character, which kinda ruins the hardman wrestler image by revealing me for what I am: some kind of drunken wizard.
Sep 24, 2015 at 12:55 PM /
Great write up Ed, It was a pleasure to photograph you and your persona 🙂