Working outside takes a bit of luck. The weather from November through February rarely allows outdoor work. Even as late as May an unusually cool snap can bring cancel or bring a planned shoot to an early conclusion. So it’s a bit of a surprise that I’ve worked with Bree Addams a few times, and we’ve been able to shoot outdoors each time. It was a near thing last time thanks to threatening rain, but the shoot worked out very nicely. This time though we scheduled to work inside for the first time.
We started working with candles as the sole light source. I used candles in one of my first nude shoots, and have always liked the combination of the relatively dim and unsteady light with the nude form. The light is very distinct from any other light source and can give some interesting effects. Having all the light on the floor around Bree lets the dark areas dominate the image, especially toward the top of each photo. I like the way it brings focus to her and the different perspective of being lit from below instead of above.
I used a textured floor to give something else for the candle light to play on. The flooring actually comes from foam core that was dimpled by stilettos in a shoot several years ago. I’ve found it handy for just these types of situations and keep it around. I like how these came out and the results inspired me to try some color variations in a shoot I’ll be posting images from soon. Also did some more traditional art nude work that day, but those will come later.
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