Ian MacLellan

I started off the year the same way I’ll be ending this one:

I then shipped off to Iraqi Kurdistan:

I then presented on that trip with this video:

I went to Iceland with some geology friends and although none of us could drive a manual transmission when we landed, we survived the snow and ice:

I met this cute girl:

I helped popularize the sport of mattress boarding with some of my Tufts friends:

I did a lot of rock climbing with my friends:

I worked on an organic farm in Italy with that cute girl:

I helped my brother Stephen get married by dancing:

I went to an exciting demolition derby on Nantucket Island:

I took a lot of pictures around Somerville:

I made a new website:

I hung out with a bunch of musicians:

And finally I relaxed and celebrated the holidays with my family and friends:

This place is awesome. Shot for the Somerville Scout.

This was one of those shoots where I just had no idea what to expect. It had been a roller coaster day already with Somerville Scout. Long story short, when they hired me , they thought they were hiring a different Ian from Tufts that they had met two weeks earlier and so they weren’t too happy when I needed the assignment explained to me for a second time. Of course me wasn’t the me that they thought I was so I guess I’m just the easiest “Ian” from Tufts to google. So when I showed up earlier in the day to shoot a boxing gym in East Somerville the owner was like “wait who are you?” In the end she had seen my website and decided I should still shoot the two stories that day for them because I was there and could probably do it, though at this point nobody really knew who was who and what was what.

Regardless of whether I was supposed to be the photographer for the two stories, I went for it and tried to do a good job anyways.

I really had no idea what to expect when it came time to shoot Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. My only real direction was to maybe play with the idea of using their kitchen to convey the idea of them serving up music. I did some internet research and they are both fascinating characters and have probably been in a million and a half bands. Michael is in the very cool Neutral Uke Hotel and Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library and Sophia is in their duos Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling and Space Balloons. They did an epic remake of the Prisoner Intro for a music video.

Their house made things photographically easy. They had a wonderful starry backdrop just hanging in their kitchen / dining room and then their kitchen itself had a really fun color and feel that I think really reflects their personalities. I initially had grand plans for lighting involving a giant reflector (I think I lost it when my landlord decided to destroy my rooftop garden) and a few off camera flashes, but in the end just went as simple as you can possibly go and bounced a single flash off the ceiling. I don’t think the results really show how easy it is to get awesome light sometimes and I promise the lighting in their house didn’t make it easier. These are zero post-production jpgs.

Hello everyone,

I’ve finally finished updating my portfolio website. It’s got some really interesting galleries from Iceland and Iraqi Kurdistan and I’ve added new work to my People and Published portfolios. Check it out!

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