19/10/2024
Since I have this weekend off from my tour through Florida, I’m laying up at a hotel in Boca Raton. But before you start saying why aren’t you at the beach, it’s been cloudy here, so I’ve been taking advantage of the time to do some writing for MECÉ’s upcoming November issue.
For you subscribers you all know at the end of every issue I write something called, A Loving Look Back. It’s basically a place where I write something that happened in my life, or some bit of information I feel photogs might enjoy reading, but hopefully, always something fascinating and involving my life in some manner.
This month I’m writing about being published and why you should pursue it or not, the how and such that I feel is something interesting and I hope, will help photographers out there to give that a go.
While pulling some stuff for that I came across some images I did for a magazine down in the Bahamas. It was a fashion shoot for a boutique in Atlantis, I believe Valentino to be exact.
We had spent the day at the beach shooting beachy stuff, (scored a cover) some stuff just outside of a restaurant that had a very cool, Bond girl vibe, and we were all pretty darn tired as the sun began to set. So, we set out to find another place to have a nice dinner. It was suggested we go to this one particular restaurant that sat on a bluff overlooking the ocean with a wonderful view of the setting sun. So, off we went.
When we arrived, it was fantastic. But as I got out of the van, I saw what looked like wooden stairs leading down from the bluff. Of course, I had to walk over to see where they went. As I looked down, I saw a small, old wooden dock. Then, just off a short distance away a sailboat anchored. As I continued to look, I saw how the ocean was reflecting the setting sun off it combined with the blues and it looked absolutely magnificent. Well, guess what? Yep, as my crew and cast begin to slowly walk toward the restaurant, I yelled at them to ‘wait a minute’!
My two assistants simply looked at each and knew instantly what that meant. They went to the van and began to pull out gear. I ran over and told my makeup artist to get Cora freshened up as quickly as possible and meet us down on that down some 50 ft below and to be careful on the stairs as they were steep.
My guys had already pulled my Hensel ring light and a second head and were heading down along with a couple light stands. They knew exactly what I would ask for and were already on it.
I also told Cora, my model, to throw on the Valentino jacket and for her to keep her black bikini bottoms on and for my makeup artist to put the shiny silver wig on her. Then I grabbed my camera and a couple lenses and headed down to the dock.
Once there I told my guys I needed a side light from the right since having one of them in the ocean was out of the question, as it was quite deep where this small dock sat, so please figure it out. My assistant said he would hold onto the end post then hang out a bit while holding the strobe in order to keep it from striking her face, only the jacket and her legs, perfect.
Next it was setting up the ring, which I had my other assistant hold so I could shoot the traditional way, through it. Next, to determine the exposure. I did a couple pics of the setting sun and clouds to determine it, then used my strobe meter to set the exposure for the ring.
Now, as all you photographers know, when you turn your makeup artist loose to “freshen” a model, even when time is of the absolute essence, they still move at a snail’s pace. It’s just inherent, always. But at the same time, I respect what they’re doing too, it’s just that when the sun is setting and you’re needing to shoot ‘something’, well, you do tend to get a little impatient. Plus, those two still had to work their way down to the dock!
As I began to use the radio asking, how close are we, a few dozen times, finally I hear them coming down the stairs, and so worth the wait! Cora looked stunning. But the sun had set and all we had was that glow, but man, what a glow. Add to the fact the boat sitting off in the distance had turned on their lights, well, the magic was ready to happen.
Cora looked dazzling in every shot, the strobes worked, my assistant hanging out over the water did not fall into the ocean and we got one incredible picture for the boutique (and our portfolios).
Don’t ask, because yes, this was shot totally on location in the Bahamas!
Enjoy...
