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3 Responses to “JENNIFER KNAPP ROCKS CCM!”Give us your Bomb Thoughts!
JENNIFER KNAPP ROCKS CCM!
Posted: March 2, 2010
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The Story Behind the Snap
Gotee Records had just signed their first female artist, Jennifer Knapp. As Gotee’s Creative Director, I was excited to have an artist on our roster whose music I loved! SHE ROCKED! Up to this time in the Christian Music Industry, the only female artist’s with a semi rock sound were Ashley Cleveland & Margaret Becker.
My first task was to create an image for Jen. Unless you can truly get to know an artist, it can be difficult to style them in a way that truly reflects who they are and their music. Developing the image I had for her in my mind happened naturally once I got to know her, understanding who she was as a person and an artist. The more we got to know each other, the more I loved her funny & sarcastic personality. Jen also had a rawness and realness to her that reflected into her music. She was real. Her music was real. It was up to me to make sure her image lived up to that authentic realness.
It was now time to hire a photographer to shoot her first album cover. First Impressions are everything, and I knew we had to make a statement with her first cover. I had wanted to use this certain photographer for quite some time now, and was excited when I was able to confirm him for this shoot. He was one of the most sought after photographers in the Industry.
The morning of the shoot Jen met me at my house, where I did her hair and makeup before heading out to meet the photographer. Throughout the day we utilized several different locations, shooting thousands of shots within an 8-hour time frame. Because we were shooting film (digital wasn’t on the scene yet), all I had to reference was Polaroid’s of each shots setup. I needed to feel confident on what the photographer was capturing, but I was unsure that we had what we needed.
By the end of the shoot, I knew we had only about an hour before the sun went down. To insure we had the shot we needed, I took matters into my own hands. I had no choice but to make sure that I got the right image for both Jen & Gotee. So Jen and I raced back to my house. I ran in, grabbed some eyeliner, my camera, her guitar and we headed to a field not far from where I lived. Once there I used the black eye liner to make her eyes look smokey, strapped her guitar on her and started to shoot.
One of the images I shot as the sun was setting became her album cover for “Kansas”. You rarely, if ever, saw a female artist with an electric guitar strapped around her in the Christian Music Industry. She was a breath of fresh air with what I felt was a very cool image that represented not only her personality but her music as well. You one realized at the time that this shot would not only define an image for Jen, but also influence the overall image of female artists in our industry.
Many years later, Jen is back on the scene, better than ever. Go visit her and give a shout out @ JenniferKnapp.com.
I would love to here about your first impression when you saw this album cover for the first time, and how Jen’s amazing music affected your life! Click on either Comment link and tell us your story!
SNAP ON! – KMAC
KMACS PICKS : The photographs & the stories behind them. (Click on a snap to shoot to its blog)
Hey, KMac, so so cool to read the whole story behind the shot I so love of Jen. I’ve worked with Jen, as part of the Gospel festival team in Estonia, also before she became big. I was very blessed to spend time with her and get to know her dry sense of humor, and using Your own words – her rawness and realness. I do remember the very first time I heard her sing – in a 13th century church in Tallinn old town. I WAS blown away! She was positively amazing! I love rock… and she certainly rocks.
When Jen gave this CD to me, I loved the pic immediately… but I never researched the photographer or designer behind this unexampled shot… so, I was yet again amazed to find out that Mike had got married to the gifted lady who created smth. so unique & marvellous. Facebook indeed has its advantages.
I wish You many blessings & great success in Your absolutely beautiful business
I was on my way to a retreat when my church group stopped at a christian bookstore. I was looking through the music and noticed the cassette tape of Kansas and it caught my attention. I grabbed it and asked my friend what kind of music does she look like shed sing after showing it to her. She replied acoustic, and I said nope its gotta have a bit of a rock sound. I was intrigued so I bought it. Since then, Jennifer’s music has made an impression on my heart the way nobody else has. I learned to play guitar on hopes of writing the exact words people felt the way she has. Her song When Nothing Satisfies has remained my absolute favorite song for 10 years.
I was looking for some new music to get into, and I’d heard a few songs by this Jennifer Knapp girl on the radio that really sparked my interest. At this point, Jennifer had already taken a break from the music world, so, as you can imagine, her albums were rather hard to come by.
One day, while walking through my local Christian bookstore, I stumbled across a copy of ‘Kansas’ –I was thrilled. The album cover caught my attention right away, I liked it because it was unlike any album cover I’d seen. It held somewhat of a mysterious feel to it, like it was screaming ‘if you want to know what I’m about, just listen’ …so I did. And I don’t regret it one bit. ‘Kansas’ will forever go down as one of my favorite albums.
Thank you for sharing the story behind the cover…I love seeing how it all came together so quickly…and how a few quick pictures set the bar for what would be an amazing album.