It’s taken me a few weeks to write this blog post but it’s a good example of how sometimes throwing the plan out the window and embracing what’s right in front of you can reap benefits. So I’m taking the time to get it done.
The plan for the shoot was to get a variety of editorial style portraits, on location. They were shot out and about in Canterbury, Kent. I like shooting on location but when doing so you have precisely zero control over the weather. Everything is fine in a nice and cosy studio, it doesn’t matter what’s going on outside, but when you actually are outside, it matters. And it was windy. Like blowing a gale windy.
This causes a few problems. Your subject gets uncomfortable, the rest of the crew gets uncomfortable and nothing stays down, trying to hold an umbrella in a precise position is a non starter. You can get all Mary Poppins quite quickly.
So, all the detailed location scouting went out of the window (literally) and we were forced to look, on the fly, for places where we had shade from the elements. This led to having to work quickly before being thrown out by security (you don’t mind so much once you know you’ve got the shot) but interestingly, despite everything I’ve just said, we ended up finishing the shoot on the very top of a monument, rather high up, hoping we would be able to make our own way back down and not be pushed by Mother Nature. The view in the late evening was fantastic and although we had to work very quickly, it was worth it.
Do you agree?
My-KI modelled for this shoot and you can see more of his work on his site here.