Creativity is the Key

I travel quite a bit, and when I do, I try to bring my equipment so I can shoot with models in my downtime. Shooting, from one hotel to the next, it sometimes gets very difficult to be creative in what you will shoot in each location. A photographer doesn’t want to get into a repetitive spiral; the same poses, the same looks, and the same angles. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I was in my hotel room in Phoenix, prepping to shoot with Analiza, and the lights went out…

I was suddenly in darkness, with only a sliver of light coming through the blackout curtains. Figuring that it would be an issue that would be fixed quickly, I pulled the curtains open and let in more light. Little did I know that the lights would be off for more than 2 hours, and my shoot with Analiza would be lit mainly with only light sources I could provide.

When Analiza arrived, I had a bit of an idea of the mood lighting that I was going to use; something a bit cooler than normal with some playful use of shadows. I had a small gel that I put on the flash, and I would need to have at least 3 flashes set at different powers to get the look I wanted, challenge accepted!

Analiza was absolutely gorgeous and loved the idea of using the small desk in the suite. She pulled out this little black set and we began to shoot. The images were fantastic on the back of the camera, and when I pulled them into the computer, they were even better. Now, every time I travel to shoot, I always think in the back of my mind, “what if “X” happened, how would I want to shoot that” – and I try to be as creative as possible in my answer. It may ultimately turn out that I never get a chance to visit a NORAD-controlled missile silo, but, if I do, I’ve got some speedlights and ideas I’m looking forward to trying!