Tashah Toxic

I received a message from a Model Mayhem model who lives in Selma, CA last month.  She asked if I would be willing to work with her and that she was willing to make the two hour drive to Bakersfield.  It's a mixed emotion in agreeing to do the shoot since I felt honored that someone would drive the two hours, but the other was an anxiety to perform. We were originally going to do a "Forbidden Love" themed shoot with Tashah and another female model, but Tashah's friend couldn't make it.  Oh well, the best laid plans...

We started shooting around 3:00 PM in the Kern River bed underneath the 99 HWY.  When we arrived, the city had decided to paint over all the graffiti, which was a minor setback.  We still found some interesting repetitive patterns and some nice lighting.  Most of the work was done with either natural light, or a "strobe on a steek, " as Brian Redden refers to his boom mounted SB-800.  We also fired some shots with Tashah laying on the thistle and thorns of the dry Kern River bed.  This shot was done using Auto-FP 250 via hand-held SB-900 by my son C.J.  It's nice to know that Nikon CLS works even in bright sunlight at about 5 feet away.

Once we finished at the river, we moved to the local skate park.  A lot of kids and skateboards made us leave our gear in the car from fear of either theft, or obliteration. Again, the lighting was mostly hand-held.  This pic has nothing to do with the shoot, but was my first attempt at an Action shot using Rear Curtain Sync,   I believe Canon brands it as Second Curtain Sync.  Basically the BMX rider was doing some cool acrobatics.  I asked C.J. to shoot from 90 degrees and point it at the apex of the ramp.  Anyway, pretty nice effect, so I'll need to try some more action shots at the park.  Anyway,  the light was fading fast and Brian red gel'ed his SB-800 and pointed back towards the camera to create some flare while C.J. used my HONL 1/4" grided SB-900 to light Tashah.  We decided to move to the final location after a half hour of trying to get the right composition, but after arriving the alley was full of cars. 

So off to the brick wall on 19th and "N" streets. Finished up there with the same kind of lighting: SB-800 with HONL 1/4" grid and 1/4 CTO gel. Two SB-600s for background, both gel'ed and gobo'ed. This is one of my favorites because of Tashah's sister's expression.We shot for about an hour and then called it quits.  Afterwards we all went out for sushi, reviewed pics and had a good time.

So what did I learn:

1) It's okay to use Manual Mode with Nikon CLS during night shoots, previously I would use Aperture Priority and mess around with the E/V, but just switching to Manual made the shoot go faster.

2) Use that fourth Speedlight if you need it, and have it.  Not that I have four speedlights, but combined, Brian and I have six speedlights.

Fun shoot with Tashah, and I'm glad she drove down from Fresno to work with me.  Have a Happy Holiday and ...

... That's a Wrap!!!