I was lazily perusing Model Mayhem over breakfast one morning a few weeks ago and I spied a photo of up and coming model Kat Nelson there.Kat wowed me immediately! She has a great look, the right frame and measurements. Her photos didn't do her justice yet. I could see what hadn't yet been captured photographically. I KNEW I had to shoot with her. She was only 60 miles away in Poughkeepsie, NY. I wrote her a note asking if she would like to collaborate --beauty head shots, and she replied almost immediately that she was interested!
COOL!
So I called on a make up artist who's clean and restrained work would work with what I had in mind, Tai Lotson. Tai was quickly on-board. Hairstylist...we needed a hairstylist. Karen Skolski, an almost local Bergen County H/S had caught my eye previously. Karen too was interested and free on the day I planned to shoot!
SHOOT DAY
Kat arrived with her Mom Kim. Kim was a huge help that day...more on that in a bit. Karen arrived and started work on Kat's gorgeous mane. I started a small blaze in the fireplace, put on some music and finished setting up my gear. Tai arrived and began working on Kat's already lush and dewy skin.
We decided our 1st look was to be a natural look, playing up Kat's fresh, young face and long locks.
I was really looking forward to the 2nd look where I wanted to play-up the drama and give Kat a look that was nowhere to be found in her incipient portfolio. I had been imagining smoky, kohl-eyed beauty, and dramatic lighting for a couple of weeks now. I felt that my portfolio really didn't reflect my studio lighting skills and I knew Kat would be a great canvas for that exercise, only making my job easier. Putting together the right team gave me confidence going in that we would succeed.
I won't talk about the lighting for look one as I have not posted any of those studio shots here.
For look two I used a gridded beauty dish to the model's front left and varied the height during the shoot. I used a gridded spot as a hair light (when I did use a hair light) and another gridded spot on the backdrop for a dramatic splash of light. The last light was close to the seamless gray backdrop and angled severely as I wanted an oval of light behind the model. This was my first shoot without ANY softboxes. Oh, remind me to get barn doors for my gridded hair light...I had to have Tai or Karen hold a black card to block spill onto Kat's face at times.
Tai and Karen did a great job. Kat looked hot and sultry for look II...I was wowed watching the look evolve. Karen swept Kat's hair up so we could show Kat's gorgeous neck and shoulders. Tai's skin work was flawless cat's eyes made my heart race a bit and her lips were the perfect shade so as not to be eclipsed by those eyes!
Shot with my Nikon D700, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens (always 100+mm), Paul C. Buff White Lighting strobes and beauty dishes. Grids were bought from Kacey Enterprises. If you have beauty dishes, buy grids, they really transform how you can shape light and drape shadow!
I was so excited as I was shooting I had to repeatedly stop and share the images with everyone!
Of course the day was not w/o it's drama out side of the actual shoot.
I had two interesting ideas for look II. I wanted to wrap things around Kat's neck: a rusty chain followed by a very coarse and thick rope. A friend found a great rusty and thick chain and I got the rope at Home Depot. I described what I wanted to achieve to Kat and she was cool with it.
I wrapped 20-30 lbs of chain around Kat's neck...those beautiful clavicles looked as though they might break. Kat's spirit seemed broken by the chains...after ~20 shots we switched to the rope and got our best shots of the day. Often the best shots are at the end of a shoot when energy is high and everyone is excited about what I have shown them thus far.
The images weren't exactly what I wanted but I am pretty damn happy and proud about the final results!
Of course the day wasn't without drama surrounding the shoot:
- My car wouldn't start that morning. I wanted to run out and grab a few last minute things and some cash.
- Got Kat's Mom Kim to take me to the bank...just got a new ATM card and couldn't quite remember the PIN. ATM machine ate my card a few times even with the help of the bank's staff so Kim had to wait and wonder why it was taking me 20 minutes to withdraw some cash.
- I was going to p/u my BoyZ from my mother-in-law's but my car was dead in the driveway. My wife had to pick them up and drop them off while we were still shooting. Hunter, my 3 y/o sat behind me in a chair while I was shooting. Kim started reading to him to keep him occupied. Reed (my 5 y/o) was intimidated by all the new people at first but once he saw Hunter was cool with it, he started bringing more books for Kim to read. Oh maybe 50 or 60 of them. Reed keeps asking when Kat and Kim can come back...maybe in the summer when we go to the lake.
Great day; great new work...feeling good about where I am as photographer and artist right now...oh and as a Dad too!
--Thomas
