He got two wonderful models, Rayna Pitter and Devyn Falcon (no relation), to be our victims for the day. Both girls went and purchased wedding dresses for the shoot; Rayna found her dress on ebay for $30.00 + $15.00 shipping, while Devyn went to a bridal boutique and found hers.
The day was a pretty long day, totaling about 10 hours (6.5 for the shoot, 1.5 for prep time, and then another hour for driving time to and from my house to the location).
We started off at the train tracks near a swampy area, where both girls dragged their dresses through the gravel and climbed all over some black tankers that had been left along some side tracks.
Personally, I had a great time with both models as they moved very well, took direction easily, and often anticipated a pose for me. In addition, both had a great sense of humour and adventure.
Devyn climbed the tankers in her wedding gown, while Rayna laid across the train tracks for me (after the Amtrac trains rolled by). (For the photo below, a single bare bulb flash is to the camera right pointed straight down. The exposure balances out the bright afternoon sun.)
After shooting at the train location for several hours, we headed off to the second locale for the day; a beach on the Pacific Ocean. We set up alongside the water and some drift wood. It was nearing the "golden hour" of sunset, and the light against the golden sand created a nice backdrop for both Devyn and Rayna. We shot frames on the beach of both girls, but as the sun began to dip lower, we had them move closer and closer to the water.
The waters were still pretty warm (for Northern California), and both girls eventually ended up in the Pacific Ocean surrounded by a bunch of photographers trying to catch the last of the "sweet light" of sunset.
Here we have the two girls in the water, looking much like water lilies.
By the end of the day, the girls had thoroughly "trashed" their dresses, dragging them through gravel, dirt, soot, sand, some unknown brown substances, and finally getting them wet in the Pacific Ocean.
Both had a great time, as normally, they have to worry about the clothes they are wearing during a shoot as they belong to a designer who wants the dress back in pristine shape. In this instance, they didn't much care what happened to the dresses, so they were willing to do a lot more than just a normal photoshoot.
For this entire day, I mainly shot with a 24-70 mm lens with one flash strobe on a light stand to balance out the ambient light or to add only a little fill.
Here we have an out-take of the 6 photographers, some assistants, a videographer, and the various types of lighting equipment.
To see additional photos of Rayna and Devyn from the photoshoot, please visit my portfolio
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