Sometimes I come up with a photo concept that I can’t try out right away. Sometimes it’s logistics of getting to a location or the weather. An outdoor shoot isn’t going to happen in January baring exceptionally great luck no matter the idea. A shoot for a specific location may need a mix of timing and luck to have the model and I both able to get there at a certain time. Last spring I’d worked out the idea to mix in a starscape with light painting a nude. I’d planned to shoot this on my spectacularly unsuccessful trip to Arizona last summer, but it ended up one of the many things from the trip that didn’t work out.
Afterward I tried again a few times. At least six more times I’d planned to shoot it, scheduled the shoot, and something had occurred to prevent it. Some were just cool weather or rain moving the shoot indoors. Two noteworthy times trying to shoot the concept fell through came with Leanne that ended with us in a patch of cholla cactus. Another failed attempt would have been following the interrupted shoot with Wonderhussy in Nevada earlier this year.
Even when I finally got things to work out and shoot this concept it didn’t go perfectly. I’d planned the shoot with Keira during the summer for the evening hour turning into night. All day before the shoot the weather had been overcast with scattered rain. Not a daylong washout, but occasional showers from light sprinkles to steady rain off and on. As I left to meet Keira I got a message from her and learned she was currently experiencing a rather heavy thunderstorm. I drove into North Carolina through a steady mix of showers and sun. Near Asheville I traveled through an impressive downpour of rain. Knowing the weather I’d planned for the eventuality we’d end up shooting indoors and packed some items for that case. I’d largely accepted that result during the drive. To my surprise as I neared her location, the clouds had broken up. While not a bright, sunny day, things were at least hopeful. Looking toward the shoot location I’d had in mind also appeared promising. A few minutes before I’d been running through an indoor concept in my head, but now it looked like we’d get a chance to work through this concept after all.
We headed up into the mountains in mixed clouds and sun, more of the former than the latter. We hoped was that the radar and skies just looked promising. It was still mostly overcast, and there was no guarantee that we’d get to try the concept, but there was enough that it would be worth the effort. I’d planned a different spot for the shoot, but that had some disadvantages of distance and terrain making it unattractive, if not dangerous, for a night when a sudden downpour of rain and a thunderstorm were real possibilities. The alternate location offered a usable location with a shorter run to shelter if the weather took too much of a turn for the worse.
Arriving before dark gave time to settle and scout a bit. We shot some early work and it looked like we’d get some decent stuff at first. Those early shots around dusk in fact came out more interesting than I’d expected using the dim light to allow some almost ghostly images of her in a small meadow. As dark came we started some light painting work resulting in the images above. Using a mix of red and white light giving Keira the look of a demon dancing in the darkness. Also in the light painting working with multiple.
While breaks in the clouds appeared giving some hope, it didn’t clear off completely. Then the rain started. A small shower, but it looked to be the end of the night.
Turned out to be the beginning.
The rain was light and fairly brief. Enough to make things damp and cool, but never hard enough to call the shoot. Shortly after it ended, the skies finally began to clear and the stars appeared. After more than a year and several attempts things finally came together.
