The Oakland recording studio where we scheduled our photo shoot with alumnus Mike Blankenship has no windows. “There wasn’t any natural light inside the studio,” says Juan Montes, the SFSU photographer/videographer who shot Blankenship for the magazine. But Montes and Alexander Villagomez-Miranda, SF State Magazine’s art director, came prepared.
“We created our own light using two strobes: one with an umbrella attachment and another bare strobe to serve as an edge light for the subject to pop,” Montes says.
Blankenship also played his piano for Montes and Villagomez-Miranda and told them about his father, who recently passed away. “Mike was the happiest and brightest in talking about his father,” Villagomez-Miranda says. “It was a very special moment and generous to have him share that with us.”
We noticed a familiar face in Blankenship’s studio. Two photos of SFSU Assistant Professor of Music Kev Choice hang on the wall above the keyboards. Blankenship and Choice will perform together as part of the Black London trio at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco on Aug. 3, with Michael Franti and Spearhead.
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