More from the shoot with Jolene Hexx. About the only thing we didn’t do that evening was traditional nudes. After the erotic set, we had just enough time to play with one more set. Here the idea was unusual angles and positions. Some interesting results below.
My first planned shoot in Las Vegas had been for midday on the June 10, but she asked to postpone to Monday. That left me the chance to enjoy a leisurely trip in from the Grand Canyon. The best benefit is that I had the time to take a brief trip into southern Utah on my way and see some of the scenery. With the new slower approach I didn’t get into Las Vegas until about 5 PM with my shoot scheduled for 7 PM. That gave me just enough time to make a quick stop to pick up a tripod since I’d forgotten mine at home. This was actually the only shoot I’d scheduled before leaving that was hotel based. I ended up shooting in a hotel a few other times on the trip, but this was the only one that I’d planned that way.
I had a couple initial ideas I wanted to explore. The first was around the idea of emotion and expression and combining them. Interestingly a few days after I got back from my trip I saw a book with something similar to what I had in mind as the cover photo. The second was around the idea of Las Vegas itself. I’m still working on those two sets, much more Photoshop work required, so expect them later on.
Jolene and I worked well together and we were able to work through those initial sets quickly. In spite of the limited time we had to work, this gave us the chance to look at a couple more concepts. One set we did focused on an erotic concept. Nothing subtle in these, just playing with eroticism and sensuality. I had the idea for a POV positioning for these shots. That pushed me out my comfort zone a bit since taking these shots required me and the model to get into some “friendly” positioning. During the shot I added in the idea of adding some interaction between her and myself in the photos. I think these may be the first photos I’ve ever posted where any part of me is included in the shot. Definitely the first time it was intentional.
A few photos from that set with more with Jolene to come.
From earlier this year a few photos from a shoot with Nyxon.
Another of the wonderful models from Phoenix I had the chance to work with in June. Plush contacted me about shooting while I was in Phoenix from the travel notice that I’d posted. We were able to work out a time my last day in the city, actually the day I left Phoenix heading for the Grand Canyon, and met up about mid-morning after a little confusion over the meeting spot. Fortunately we were able to get to a good location and get some nice work before the heat of the day and the glare of the sun became too much to work with. This is not too far from where Jen and I worked during this same visit, but different terrain and different weather. By the end of the shoot the sun was getting very harsh, but took on the wonderful blue color you can see in one of the photos below. Enjoy a few photos from the shoot.
My first outdoor shoot of my desert trip took place near Phoenix, AZ with Jen Phoenix. I’d spent most of the day driving through western Arizona toward Phoenix enjoying some nice quiet time with myself, the western speed limits, and my first real chance to enjoy the terrain. My first lesson was that what in Arizona is a river, I call a creek. My second is that what there is called a lake, I call a pond. I also learned that Arizona does not observe daylight savings time during the summer which in effect means that in spite of being in the Mountain Time Zone (two hours behind Eastern), in the summer they are at the same time as the Pacific Time Zone of nearby Nevada and California where daylight savings time is observed. I’d later also learn the Navaho Nation in Arizona does change their clocks which would cause me to be a bit late later in my trip. I now feel much better about the confusion in Tennessee where two thirds of the state is in Central Time and one third is in Eastern Time.
Driving through the desert was a really wonderful trip. I just enjoyed the scenery and landscape around me along with being able to observe the terrain, the plant life, and the lighting as the sun moved across the landscape. I think I’d expected the whole desert to be a dry and barren place with nothing except bare rocks and sand. Life is tenacious though and though it’s often only little scrubs of brush inches high, few places are truly and completely barren. Seeing a Joshua Tree forest south of I-40 was an unexpected and welcome surprise.
Thanks to the unexpected extra hour from the lack of DST, I was into Phoenix in plenty of time for my evening shoot with Jen. We met up at the hotel where I was staying and traveled out to a location suggested by another Phoenix based model I’d worked with in the past. The spot turned out to be wonderful. I knew that Jen and I would work well together almost immediately when her reaction to stepping on a cactus thorn was to pull it out and then immediately go back to posing. Jen was wonderful to work with, open to trying just about any spot, and great at posing and finding the light outdoors. Really enjoyed working with her and hope I get the chance to in the future either her coming out here (I’d love to pose her in the mountains around here) or my next trip out west.
In particular we were out during the wonderful evening light around sunset. I think it was the combination of clearer skies and the open terrain, but I simply loved the golden hour light out there. Shooting here in the mountains and forests I often find that the sunlight light is blocked or lost in the trees when it takes on the golden hue, but during this shoot we were able to work until the sun had dipped below the horizon for good and all was shade. We spent the last fifteen or twenty minutes in fact working up a hill and shifting upward as the fading light did the same until we could climb no more. My only regret of the shoot is that we didn’t have more light to work in.
A few more images from the shoot
My recent trip out to the southwest gave me the first opportunity to try shooting in a new environment, the desert. I’m no stranger to outdoor shooting, as even a quick glance through my posts and gallery will demonstrate, but this was a very different environment, both in the obvious of few trees and little water, but in more subtle ways such as the way the sun interacts with the landscape. So I thought I’d not a few observations of the differences between working in Arizona and Nevada compared to my normal Tennessee and North Carolina locations.
As always these are just my observations from a couple weeks in early June. It will definitely will be hotter if you go in July or August where I’m not sure I’d even go outside during the noonday sun. It will also likely be more humid then too. In the winter it will be completely different I’m sure. In other words before taking this as gospel, check a weather forecast.
I know you’re thinking, “No kidding.” Still it’s one thing to read or hear that the weather is hot and dry, but it’s a different thing to be standing out in that weather. I was fortunate during my trip that the weather was actually a little cooler than normal, but still 100 degree heat is nothing to dismiss. I will note though there is a notable difference between the humid heat where I normally work and the dry heat of the southwest. I felt more comfortable at 100 degrees in Arizona early this month than I have in Tennessee this week at ninety degrees with the higher humidity.
That said, it’s still hot and potentially dangerously so. And the dry air means that water just leaves your body in no time. You sweat and it evaporates. This does make you feel a little cooler, but it also means that drinking water is a constant necessity outside. My sinuses dried out in minutes. I have a daypack that I normally take when hiking or shooting around home that holds 3L of water. I normally can come back from a full day outdoors with water left in the pack. While shooting out west I normally drank somewhere between 3/4 and a liter or water per hours while hiking or shooting in the desert. If you take one piece of advice from this, drink lots of water.
I’d in fact say the biggest change for me wasn’t the heat or the dry air, but the lack of shade. I normally shoot in forests where trees 100+ feet tall are the norm around you. Outside of the higher elevations above 5,000 feet like the Colorado Plateau I’m not sure I saw any plant even fifty feet tall. Most plant life is brush with a height measured in inches. What few tall plants exist are narrow. The result is that shade is rare and shade big enough to put a person into, either yourself or a model, is even harder to find. Clouds are almost non-existent. I think I was out west for five days before I saw a cloud, a small whispy puff of white at the side of a mountain in Utah as I was driving from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas.
This will have two direct affects on you as a photographer. The clear, dry air means the sun is there and will beat down on you. If you’re out in the hottest part of the day where the sun is high in the sky there is nowhere to escape from it’s heat. This makes the hot and dry aspect worse on your body and the body of your model. The desert sun also has a very harsh and bright light that makes photographing during the middle of the day largely an exercise in futility. I did one shoot with a model during the late morning to midday. We found some places to work thanks to rocks providing shade, but for shooting in the desert think early or late in the day.
Sunscreen is a requirement. Especially for the fair skinned such as myself.
As I mentioned, the sun when high in the sky is harsh and terrible for photographing a model. With little hope of overcast, you’re only option is to find shade. Fortunately there are rocks. In fact I think the rocks are the best feature of the southwest landscape. For the times I was out in the harsher sun, I was mostly able to find locations to work around rock formations. If you’re forced by scheduling to work during the middle of the day, look for a location with rocks formations.
The light during golden hour, the time right before and right after either sunrise or sunset, is simply gorgeous though. The things that make the midday sun so annoying work to make this late light wonderful. I can say that the golden hour light in the southwest would probably be the most enjoyable and wonderful natural light that I’ve worked in.
There’s not a lot of people in the desert. The big cities are big, Phoenix and Las Vegas for example, but in between cities there is a lot of wide open space. Compare that to my area where you come through a small town or city every few miles on the major highways. Out west it’s not uncommon to drive hours and not see a group of more than a hundred people together. In short it’s a lot easier to find nice private places for shooting.
The terrain just looks different. Water is so rare those westerns where people fought wars over it now make a lot more sense. The deep green colors are rare with browns and muddy green more common. Mountains look totally different without the green. The novelty is part of the appeal, but I really think there is something I love about the different landscape and the vast openness. I’m already looking forward to my next trip back. Coming up over the next couple weeks expect to see more photos from my desert shoots including those previewed in this post.
All the models I worked with were locals and knew more about posing nude in the desert than I did. All brought water to drink and stayed out of the sun as much as possible when not posing or until it lost much of its force. My biggest concerns for a model or photographer working in the environment for the first time would be not drinking enough water and the sun on exposed skin. I kept pretty well covered in sunscreen while outdoors, but did redden just a bit on my last shoot which ended in the full force of the midday sun. I drank plenty, but still felt like I got behind a few times. Plenty of water is the one thing I cannot overemphasize as the heat and dryness really pull water out of the body.
I also would suggest really focusing on the times around sunrise or sunset not just for the great light, but to give the best conditions. It’s cooler and the sun is just too fierce and harsh to easily work during the middle of the day. I’m also looking forward to trying some light painting my next trip out there.
Wildlife is another concern. The desert of course holds several animals you’d prefer not to meet such as the rattlesnake and scorpion. Thankfully I saw none of those while out shooting or hiking. My personal favorite was the yellow signs similar to the ones we commonly see in the east warning of deer. I saw plenty warning me to watch for bison or elk in the road. Then as I travelled through the higher elevations of central Arizona I saw one warning me to watch out not for buffalo or elk, but mountain lions for the next ten miles.
I stayed in my car the next ten miles. And a few more after that.
In conclusion I loved the desert as a location. I’m already looking at planning a trip back outside of summer to shoot among a few other adventures I’ve planned. Like any other location there are precautions and challenges, but the rewards are worth them. A lot of common sense goes a long way as with any outdoor work.
A couple days before leaving for my trip out west I shot with Ginger for the first time in a couple years. There’s irony that I last worked with her early in my comeback after a very long break from photography, and this time I worked with her to end my longest shooting break since then. The green was wonderful this time of year, but the mild winter left things more grown up than expected which limited a few places I wanted to shoot. Ginger was wonderful to work with as always. The shoot went well except for an annoying encounter with stinging nettle that she refers to as Nettlepacolypse. A few photos from the shoot.
A couple final photos from my shoot with Keira earlier this spring.
From the outdoor portion of my March shoot with Keira Grant.
So in a year without winter it decides to get cold for my two outdoor shoots I’d scheduled for today and tomorrow. Right now it’s in the mid forties right now and raining where it’s been in the 70’s most of the month. My shoot today with Nyxon changed to indoor and I’ve rescheduled my shoot tomorrow with April to be indoor too. Getting itchy to get back outside though so hopefully May will be more cooperative. That’s no guarantee though as cool days are possible even into summer.
Tonight a few images from my shoot in late March with Keira Grant. These are from earlier in the day before we went outside and playing with some erotic concepts before the outdoor part of the shoot which went perfectly. Some shots form that coming soon.
