Some of you on Instagram have asked about my process when shooting with models. Here is a collection of shots from my recent shoot with Sydney Wojcik. When I shoot portraits I like to keep an open mind on location until I meet with the model and talk with them about an overall look. Usually this means meeting for coffee, which you have to agree jumpstarts any shoot! To me location plays a huge role and this is probably because I started out as a landscape photographer. Many other things are taken into consideration when I shoot with a model, such as colors of clothes/style and what the weather is doing. Once I saw Sydney I was super happy that she nailed the look I was looking for based off some inspiration photos I sent to her. One plus of having to drive into the city is I get a first hand look at the overall weather. On this particular day I noticed it was extra foggy in the Marin Headlands, which would be the perfect shooting conditions with Sydney's bold look which consisted of vibrant red lipstick along with a matching red beanie. When I shoot portraits I like to look for contrast between the style of the model and the environment they are in, which I believe makes the image pop. One model described my portrait photography as actually capturing the overall subject, rather than just a face.
We headed up to the headlands and we were greeted with some thick gloomy fog. I was in my environment and probably could have taken a million photos, but we were limited by the amount of light we had. It's important to make sure you allow yourself enough time to get the shot you want and also be able to move onto more locations. One constant reminder I also have is to just keep moving to make sure all my images don't look the same. With each new location I usually like to change up the look a bit, but this time I decided that I wanted to shoot the same look against different backgrounds. I have to give props to Sydney for braving the cold damp fog, muddy trails, and steep slopes we ventured around. If any of you have shot in the fog you know how much dew is in the air, her hair was dripping wet by the end of the shoot and I could tell she was freezing! It was all worth it in the end and here are the results, which I consider to be some of my best work to date.
