Once in awhile, especially on bright summer days when the sun comes out of hiding, I get bitten by the photo shoot bug. OK, I lied. The Photo Shoot Bug bites my freckled white hiney about…ehhh…every other week.
This past Sunday, July 5th, the rain and gloom finally lifted on a day that one of my good photographer friendsย happened to be available. You can only imagine how great it felt for me to get the first shoot of the summer out of my system!
The talented Steve Crosset (SRC Imaging) and I set out for the waterfalls at Enders State Forest in Granby, Connecticut. What a beautiful state park! There is a series of seven waterfalls, each one slightly different from the next in the direction and pattern that the water cascades down the rocks. The lush, wooded setting is simply magical. Plus, the cover of trees softly filters even the strongest afternoon sunlight, resulting in the same halo effect as a hair light in a studio setting.
One of the reasons why I recently got into modeling as a full-time hobby is that great photography really moves me – but I stink at taking pictures. I work well with Steve Crosset because he brings a near-scientific approach to his work. In other words, composing exquisitely, applying studio lighting principles to the position of the sun, knowing what poses bring out the musculature of the body, getting it right pre-PhotoShop and simply amping up the color and texture in the post production. Steve often makes me work my butt off to getย a great shot, but there’s always a method to the madness. One of us will throw a crazy, implausible idea out there – and somehow it always gets done. (Like the time he literally “put me on a pedestal” – oy vey!)
Sunday’s shoot was not without issues or caveats. We lost sight of our trail and had to clamber up a small mountain; me in my $600 Eman and Steve with all his bulky camera equipment. (What I wouldn’t give for a photo of that adventure!)
Though I came home feeling sore, mosquito-bitten and totally spent, I’d like to think we produced some of my most mediocre work to date. No, who am I kidding, being all modest? Our pictures kicked some serious butt.
Check ’em out on Flickr and let me know which ones should make the cut for my web gallery!
Yours ‘Til I Become Camera Shy,
Carrara