Photography Weekend - Day 2

The morning began with a heavy downpour, so we all met at the IHOP in Bricktown to talk about the day's plans. To get out of the rain we chose to photograph inside an old building near downtown OKC that was being renovated. This provided us protection from the rain and wind, and best of all provided a gritty urban look to our pictures. Emily and I planned our shot before we started. She wanted something very urban and gritty, with a hard edged look. Because we were shooting in a dark building with very little available light, I brought my battery powered lights, stands and some light modifiers. Although we started out with more diffused lighting, after a bit we pulled the diffusion out and added a grid to the main light to give it more of a hard edge and control the spill. Mike was first up. While he has only been modeling a year, he has been involved in acting and drama and was very professional and easy to work with. He was very responsive to suggestions and really worked to get the look we were after. His wife and small daughter were with us and watched the entire session.

Next up we wanted to pull Emily into the scene. She had never worked with a male model before, so it took her a bit to get comfortable to the idea. She is very happily married and wasn't wild about being physically close to someone else, but Mike was the consumate professional and put both girls at easy. He always asked for permission before getting close or touching them, and he just took is time and was a complete gentleman at all times. This made it much easier for both female models to work with him and I was quite impressed with his demeanor.

Emily does not smoke but she wanted to add a cigarette to help complete the look. We were wanting an intimate, hard-edge look to the picture and I thought it turned out just like we were wanting.

Next Delila traded places with Emily and worked with Mike. When we first started I told her to give me a naughty look, like she was doing something she shouldn't be doing. This caused her to and Mike to laugh so I after that they were laughing between each picture. This made the shoot fun. Again Mike was very professional and both models took direction quite well. I think it would be tough getting that close to someone you had just started working with, but they all pulled it of quite well.

After our session we all had lunch in Bricktown and had a good time. I really look forward to working with everyone again, especially Mike. It is difficult to find male models who are comfortable in front of the camera and that are kind, respectful and courteous to the female models.