Medicine Woman

This past Saturday, I had a shoot with a co-worker who wanted some photos for her husband.  I won't disclose her age, but she is older than my usual models.  IMHO, her youthful appearance is probably due to her Korean-American ethnicity.  I've been told that we, Asians, appear younger than our years.  I know, digression. Anyway, we planned the shoot about two months ago and finally the day arrived.  The weather was overcast, breezy and in the high 40's, but was a nice 45 minute drive up to Tehachapi, CA.

Upon arrival, she gave me a tour of the house and rooms we could use to shoot.  She also showed me around her property which is built on a hilltop and overlooks Tehachapi and Keene.  Back inside she showed me some photos she pulled from a magazine that she wanted to emulate and also a quick review of her chosen wardrobe.

We did mostly indoor shooting due to the weather, but managed to get some nice natural light shots.  I used my new Interfit Tri-reflector portrait holder/stand.  It worked really well since it has two swiveling arms aside from the center mount reflector holder that allows you to create wraparound light.  The above shot was done with all natural light coming from the French doors camera right, at about 1:00 o'clock.  The reflector was stand was at about 7, and each arm was positioned at 9 and 5, respectively.

The next shot was done with two strobes.  One in a mini-softbox and 1/4 CTO Gel Camera left 45 degrees with the reflectors in the same position.  I placed another flash outside pointing back in at about one o'clock facing the reflectors and just high enough to create lens flare.  Lens flare, as I mentioned in my shoot with Sarah seems to be a fad right now in photography.  I still haven't honed it in yet, but I'm getting closer.The flashes were both set at 1.0 E/V TTL and the camera E/V was set at -0.7.

After awhile she changed and we went outside to shoot in the weeds.  It was still chilly and breezy, so we only spent about ten minutes outside to get this next shot.  It was done with an SB-900 in a mini-softbox and a 1/4 CTO Gel camera right about 45 degrees and a gold reflector placed on the ground below the flash, just out of camera sight. Flash was TTL Model 1.0 E/V and Camera at -0.3 E/V.  I made sure that we shot at 1/60 of a second to make sure we brought in some ambient light on the weeds.  I really like this photo because it reminds me of a 1940's Technicolor film.  Although not identical to the Jane Russell pin-up shot, it has that same kind of feel.  Anyway, we both were freezing, so we ran indoors to finish the rest of the shoot.  I'll amend this post once I finish processing a pic from her last wardrobe change.  That series consisted of all three speedlights, two for key and fill and the third for accent.

What did I learn? Honestly, noting comes to mind that is worth noting.  I really didn't struggle with anything during our shoot aside from the weather.  Things I would like to have for my next shoot are:
1) My eldest to help with my gear, set-up and breakdown.  Our actual shooting time was about two hours, but I spent an hour setting up and breaking down equipment and lighting gear.
2) The combo dolly/stepladder too keep all my stuff together and also to get a higher vantage point when shooting
3) That darn Hoodman Loupe

So ends another fun shooting session with a fun co-worker and more experience with "On Location" photography.  Thanks for reading and ....

...well you know my usual closing statement.  Peace Out!!!