The Black Eyed Peas cooked up that current cover of Rolling Stone in Minneapolis at Orbit Photo Studio.
The day after playing St. Paul's X, the BEP put in more than a full day of work at Orbit, with uber photographer Mark Seliger, who flew in for the shoot. Seliger also took the controversial GQ photos of trampy Rielle Hunter, John Edwards' mistress and baby's mama dramatist, pants-less on a bed with Dora, Kermit and Barney.
There was nothing scandalous about the BEP shoot at Orbit, which is owned by the world's greatest photographer, Bob McNamara. (See my column photo.) Orbit staff producer Sarah Fisher managed the shoot for Seliger.
"All of them, when they walked in, looked me in the eye, shook my hand. When they left, everybody gave me a hug," said Fisher. "They were respectful, hard-working, down to earth. As commercial photographers, we're used to working with models. They know time is money. We find a lot of times when famous people are being photographed they are like, You're here for me, and so I'll take my sweet time and do what I want when I want. It was a 16-hour day. No big star attitudes.
"Fergie was very kind and polite," said Fisher. "Fergie was up on a rooftop in a leotard. It's 40 degrees out and she's is in a bathrobe trying to stay warm and she is smiling. And that's tough to do, basically being in a swimming suit on a rooftop. She pulled it off. Very professional. I was impressed."
Of course, for Fergie, there's always the warmth generated by thoughts of her husband, Josh Duhamel. "Super nice guy," said Fisher. "He showed up a little bit later. He grew up in Minot. He met his mom here [in Minneapolis] and went to the show so they could all have family time together, if you will. It's always crazy for me to think, 'Fergie has a mother-in-law.' But she does, and she lives in North Dakota."
Sets for the photo shoot were created at Orbit and in downtown Minneapolis on top of the Grain Exchange Building.
"The cover is here at Orbit," said Fisher, "but if you see any photos of them outside, those were taken at the Grain Exchange." Fisher is especially tickled with herself for sneaking the famous faces into the Grain Exchange. I know how she did it: That alley.
