So yesterday I hired a knackered Kia (the dashboard lit up like Paris on Valentine's Day) and drove 175 miles up to the shoreline of Douglas, MI ---> where for $10 I got to shoot a whole bunch of models.
As ever the model's were lovely - the photographer's suspicious. Why didn't I have a truck? Where was my portable softbox with dual car batteries? Why didn't I have an assistant with me? Why wasn't I quite as 'real ale bellied' as them?
It's weird that these free shoots seem to be the preserve of men who seem friendly enough but are actually very, very competitive. They've bought the gear, they've lugged it up there and they're determined to forget that the reason that they got into this in the first place was to see some pretty girl's norks. That seems to be it for them. So when I turn up with a Sony (what no Nikon? not even a Canon?) an off camera flash and an idea they start to get a little odd.
"What's with the black balloons and poses in front of signs that say 'no'?" queried one gray mustachioed, cigarette breathed old codger, hunched over his $10,000 camera as he took another picture of another girl in another gazebo.
And that was how the day went. I had fun. The sun shone. The sand was fine. The models all easy going and fun and the equipment survived the sand (I hope)
And best of all I think that I finally got some shots with both the saturation and the gloss that I was going for
Good day, good day