I recently had a friend hire me to shoot new images for her modeling portfolio. I haven't done a lot of shooting specifically for this purpose but I have watched a lot of America's Next Top Model so I was excited for the challenge! I have a photojournalism back ground so shooting on the go is something that I've come to love doing. Being able to find good locations to shoot at is a great trait to have, so I like to practice often and this assignment was perfect for this. Phyllis, my model and I already had some ideas and decided to shoot for an entire Saturday and get as many different sets in as possible. We started at 7:30a.m. and finished after dark. This worked well, giving us multiple variations in light. We shot outside in the morning and in the evening, doing inside sets during the middle of the day. I did find a good barn that worked great during the midday sun as well. A little planning for the light goes a long way. Sometimes I find with lighting, keeping things simple goes a long way. Good text book technique is key, especially outside. Lighting is everything! I always have my flash, it can be your best friend. However, don't be afraid to use natural light when the situation is fitting for it. I also have a small soft box I like use with my flash. I like to use my flash off camera so I can control the directions of my light better. I also like utilizing multiple types of reflectors. I am more of an off tripod shooter but I always have it and usually always need it at some point, especially if I have no one helping with reflectors and lighting.

With this assignment I had a client who was up for anything, we had some specific locations planned but also did many random locations that we saw throughout the day. This is great when you have a cleint who is up for this. Take advantage of opportunities like this. I was also able to excute some out of the box ideas with Phyllis that I haven't been able to with other clients. The Mona Lisa Barn is one example of this. I had been wanting to shoot this idea for about 10 months and finally was able to and loved the way it turned out. Phyllis was great because she pretty much brought her closet with us.

At the end of the day we had many different images and moods and collectively you can't tell they were all shot in one day. This was a goal of mine, that she would have a large variety in her book. We even got to shoot with a snake and a horse, which was a good challenge for us both. It was a long but very productive day and I hope to be doing more work like this in the future!

Check out Phyllis' modeling portfolio ablum on my page to view some of the images from this day!

Happy shooting!

Candice