LET THERE BE LIGHT!

This past weekend, I had a shoot on the beach. I had been following the weather forecast for the week, and saw that it would be sunny, warm and great weather all weekend!
The day for the shoot comes, we meet our model Mindy at a seperate location to have Melissa do some great Hair and Makeup.

We start the caravan down to the beach location...as we go over the mountain we see nothing but CLOUDS!!!!

COMPLETE OVERCAST!!!

WHAT THE!!!

Of course I start to panic. I decide to still go to the location on the beach and shoot. I've never done an overcast shoot. Not sure what kind of looks I would get.
We get to the location and this is what I see...

I know it looks stunning and kind of haunting, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. I was still able to get some great shots.

Mindy was a trooper. Before her and I touched the water she was all game to jump in. After we felt the water, we were both surprised to find out the water wasn't that cold.

We shot for a bit, until we thought we got all that we could get, with what little light we had. So, we packed up. Put towels on, camera went back into its bag, and as we started to walk away, to head back to our cars....

THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN!!!

THIS HAPPENED!!!

THE CLOUDS OPENED UP AND THE SUN CAME OUT!!!!

I quickly looked at Mindy, who was just starting to get warm under that towel, and said drop that towel and get back in the water! I knew we had limited time to get some great shots with this lighting, so we started working quickly and I was all over the place!

LIKE A CRAB!

The Sun peeking through for a quick minute, helped us out a lot and made for some great pics!

In the end, the clouds opened up for a quick minute and  we were able to nail some great shots.

Thanks for reading. Until next time...

-WS

PROOF!

I recently talked about how difficult it is to do a shoot somewhere, without being stopped by a Cop, Park Ranger or someone just trying to ruin your shoot!
They ALWAYS ask for a permit! Well...today I had a shoot, and guess what happened?...I believe the picture below will explain it all.
STORY OF MY LIFE!
hahaaha!
-WS


Models, Anya and Chris talking to the Officer who turned out to be SUPER COOL. Didn't fine me...was actually looking out for us and told us to just be careful. 



BOGUS!

I wont mention any names...
but I had another shooting location fail on me!
I'm pretty sure this one was going to be a good location for some awesome shots.
Story of my life when setting up shoots. It's just so freakin' frustrating!
....breathe....OK, I'm better.
hahaha
-WS

BEHIND THE SCENES!!!

I always make sure I have someone on the set of my shoots with a camera, to capture all the behind the scene shots. SO much happens to put a shot together and capture a great photo. People seem to enjoy seeing these shots, so...I'll share some with you.
Enjoy.


showing Chris a shot




Having fun while the clay dries on Ruben...took forever!




Assistant Ryan helping keep Chris look "wet"




Model Mindy in the "body bag"




Shooting Mindy in the Body Bag shoot.




Going through some shots with Models Ryan and Marissa.




Setting up a shot with Vanessa.




Shooting Vanessa.




Getting the shot of Marissa in the "Frozen" shot.




Model Beth goofing off before we start shooting.




Behind the Scenes look at me shooting "Flood"




Placing items on the set we built, then lit on fire for the "Fire" shoot.




Models Mindy and Ryan in place and setting up the shot for "Collapsed"




After Ryan and Mindy were lying on the floor with debris all over them.




Chris, Anya and myself in FREEZING COLD WATER!



Chris, Anya and myself warming up near the fire after that COLD SHOOT!

HOLY AMAZING!!!

So I came across this picture from a friend. Its a shooting location somewhere in the South I believe. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! THIS IS AMAZING!

So beautiful...

Its hard out there for a...Photographer!

SO, getting ready to do some upcoming shoots, I can't help but get so frustrated thinking about how hard it is to find a good location...
Don't get me wrong I have some cool locations for shooting...but its hard to find a good location you can shoot at, without getting kicked out, fined, or told you need a $10,000 Insurance fee!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
I would totally understand if I were shooting a 6 model, fashion spread with props, assistants, wardrobe and several people around...but I usually have only about 5 people max! INCLUDING ME!
I have found some cool locations and CHEAP places to do some amazing shoots. As far as everywhere else...I guess thats what they call Gorilla Style!
I have some pretty cool and amazing friends, who allow me to use their houses, pools, backyard etc. for shoots. However, to get the shot CRASH for my BEAUTIFUL DISASTERS Series, we had a total of 4 people (me, model, assistant and Hair and Makeup Artist), and we drove behind a grocery store, jumped out of our car, set up and grabbed the shots I needed in less than 15 minutes! I'm sure if anyone saw us, they would have asked us to leave.
Here's a behind the scenes shot of that shoot.
Enjoy!
-WS

Melissa, getting our model ready...quickly!



Beautiful Disasters

Last year with help of my friends, including Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist expert Melissa (follow Melissa's blog: http://makeupmelissa123.blogspot.com/) we created a series, called Beautiful Disasters. Here are the pics from that shoot.