Behind the scenes: Winds of Change Shoot

 

So I have been working long hard hours behind the scene to roll out our new website and new packages, in preparation for moving in a fresh new direction. So I wanted to celebrate with a promotion. So, I had a fun idea to do a self portrait shoot (with the steady hands of my daughter Sydney Raine managing lighting, and my hubby Kellen patiently letting me totally micro manage settings, positioning, angles, and lighting while he took the shot). It was a last minute preparation, frantically getting dress and makeup together while trying to beat the sun (any photographers ultimate time keeper). I knew we couldn’t go far because that sweet spot of time in the day when the sun is at its most beautiful, known as golden hour, was already underway. The sun was going down fast, so I knew that I would be grabbing a light and staying in the neighborhood. There is a little pond in our subdivision,  along its eastern edge there is a huge rock that seems like its purpose is just to watch the sun set over the water.  However, that could just be the romantic in me. After all, it’s just a rock. Never the less I knew it would be perfect for a powerful (super quick) shoot.

Kellen and I packed up the kids and dashed around the corner. Once we finalized the spot and set up the light, I had Sydney stand in while I set up the lighting. I used a single strobe setup for some dramatic lighting. Kellen is always game for helping me out, but its a rare occasion that he takes my camera. So I finalized all my settings in the camera and assured him all he had to do was click. The only thing was I kinda forgot to explain the whole focusing thing, kinda important… who knew! So after a little lesson on how to line up the subject with the auto focusing points I setup we were in business! Kellen on camera… check! Sydney Raine keeping lighting from blowing away…. check! Logan Night playing in the playground right next to our location and managing not to torment his sister…. check! Me ever so gracefully scaling this boulder… ummm Check?! It was time to get to shooting. We managed to get some cool shots. One of my favorites was actually one with Sydney in frame looking on while my back is turned as a gust of wind blows by (I’m shocked there were’t any of me looking neurotic yelling at Kellen to take the shot as the rare breeze blew by. I wanted there to be movement in the image with winds of change being the theme.). It wasn’t quite what I wanted for the campaign but it might get a spot on my office wall! We could have shot there well into sunset… If only I charged my battery before running out. Oops! a few shots is all we got, but thats all we needed! Kellen and the kids decided to take a nice stroll back as I drove the equipment back home after our family project was complete.