Six artists, one hour of light
Golden Hour Sessions is a portrait series pairing six local performers with the last hour of daylight. Each two-minute film combines an unscripted conversation with performance footage — shot fast, graded warm, and released weekly through the summer.
Commissioned by the Riverside Arts Festival to promote its evening programme, the series became the festival’s most-shared content that year.
The sun doesn’t negotiate
Each portrait had a single 60-minute window — setup, conversation and performance included. Cloud cover on two evenings forced us to rebuild the lighting plan in minutes while keeping the series’ warm signature look intact.
One bag, two cameras, no fuss
A deliberately tiny kit kept the sessions intimate: two mirrorless bodies, three lenses and a single LED panel for fill. Performers relaxed because there was almost nothing to perform for — which is exactly why the films feel honest.
“The series gave our evening programme a face — six of them. Ticket sales for those nights outperformed every other slot.” — Dana Whitfield, Director, Riverside Arts Festival
What shipped
- Six 2-minute portrait films
- 30-second trailers per artist
- Festival opener compilation
- Poster stills for each artist
The festival’s face
The series ran weekly through the summer and became the festival’s most-shared content, lifting evening ticket sales above every other slot. Three artists commissioned their own follow-up portraits from the studio.
