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.
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.
