Well-Kept Secrets, pt. 3

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftVUJkQWpqZjdUdzg

WELL-KEPT SECRETS

I had been so busy catching up on editing my backlog of images throughout the month of April and May that I really hadn’t done much shooting. Several local models had been messaging me asking for shoots but I simply didn’t have time, nor did I want to add to my backlog of images. Sometimes I feel my creativity drop, as I currently do, and I simply just want to clear off my old images (that haven’t been shared or posted but that I’m already sick of) and start fresh.

So when Breana, who is notoriously hard to get a hold of for shoots, messaged me asking to shoot again, I knew I had to give in and make time to shoot with her. I knew I needed to challenge myself a little, so I decided to bring a variety of lights and stands and shoot her outdoors with it all, which always adds a fun degree of difficulty. Since I drive a dirty, cluttered pick-up truck and wanted to shoot in the backseat of a car, I convinced her to clean out her car and let us shoot back there. So on the Wednesday evening we scheduled this for, she met me with her newly cleaned car at my place, then we went for a little drive out to Sisquoc, Ca, which is mostly farm land and open fields and roads.

I had her park in front of me on a dead end road, and I turned on my high beams to light up her rear window. Next, I got my cigarette lighter inverter adaptor and plugged it into her car’s dashboard, plugging one of my red lights into it and clipping the light onto a light stand just outside the back passenger window. On the driver’s side, I set up a battery-powered white LED light on a stand and pointed it facing into the backseat also, then had her climb back there with various outfits. Voila! Instant photo shoot!

Breana it known for her creativity and enthusiasm, but her natural beauty and gorgeous shape, which she does nothing to maintain, is still remarkable and well worth the effort of shooting. She spent the next hour or so contorting and arching her back as I directed, turning her head when I asked her to, not really understanding the light and why it was coming from different directions. It wasn’t until I stopped, showed her, and explained to her how her different head movements presented different lighting options that she got it. It was then that I realized that I had only ever taken “pretty girl” shots of her, boring, less artsy photos that she liked taking, that made her look good, but were creatively flaccid. 

That made me remember why I have been so down on myself for a month (more like a year) for not feeling creative and being disappointed in my artistic laziness, and I vowed to try to push myself more in future shoots.

Breana changed several more times and we shot over a thousand images that sadly looked very similar, and after that hour had passed, I could see her energy dipping and I called it quits. I packed up the lights, assured her once again that there was no damage to her car or her engine, then she followed me back to town where she hopped on the freeway and headed home.

I felt mildly disappointed with myself, it felt like a “B-“ type of shoot on the creativity spectrum. I could have done better, but it was at least a bit more of an effort than I’d put in for months. I never know if I’m doing well, and even if I do have a good feeling about a shoot, it doesn’t last long. 

More importantly, what did you think of this set?? How do you feel about the different lighting and colors? Would you like to see more special effects like this? Please let me know! Leave comments in the box below or in my DMs! And thank you again for your continued support!

Here’s that link again: 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftVUJkQWpqZjdUdzg