Van-Gore-ria

A FLICKR friend and KPA member did a shoot just recently with a goth/pin-up style model named Missy Van Gore.  She definitely has an interesting look and I asked him to let her know I would like to work with her.  Well within an hour she e-mailed me back saying she looked at my port and would like to collaborate with me.


We scheduled the shoot for Sunday, but got the times mixed up.  Missy called at 1:00 PM and said she would be in town at 1:30.  Ugh, Drew has guitar lessons at 1:30 PM.  So I told her to come over and that she could hang out with Teresa and the dogs, which she did. -- DIGRESSION -----

Anyway, when I got home, Missy was decked out in a leopard 3/4 length jacket, stockings, black heels, black bag, a very Film Noir look.  She showed me what she brought and we began to shoot.  Our first set-up was a high-key shoot, but I just wasn't feeling it.  I think her stark look was too much for a high key session.  We managed to get some decent photos, but as I mentioned earlier, nothing really grabbed me.  I took a couple of Polaroids of Missy and used them in this shot.  The Polaroid film is 10 years-old, but looks decent.  I used my AB1600 with the 64" PLM camera right at 45 degrees and two RPS Monolight strobes pointed at the background. The background strobes were a 1/2 stop lower than the key, which was set at 1/4 power. I ended turning the background strobes off since they didn't do anything for the background, and reset the AB1600 to 1/16th power.

About 45 minutes into it we did a costume and background change.  This time we changed up the lighting, a softbox 90 degrees camera left and a gridded monolight camera left 45 degrees.  This created some really nice texture lighting on Missy, but I think it still was too light for her complexion and wardrobe.  We shot for about another hour and then did the final background.  This time we switched to black, which I really wanted to start with.  Moved the Softbox directly above camera and threw a reflector on the ground to just kick some light backup.  I also placed another monolight about 110 degrees camera left, but with a frost gel and a grid to create a more diffused accent light.  That was the ticket.  the rest of these shots were done using that set-up.  I have to say that I kinda liked the low-key pictures, which is rare since I usually find faults with each one, but I guess this time I was lucky.

All in all, this was a very fun shoot, Missy was phenomenal with her wardrobe, posing and make-up.  She was a delight to work with and her attitude was so easy going that I felt creative and not restricted to focus solely on making her look hot, like some of my other models.  I highly recommend working with Missy if you are a photographer and want to try something different.  She can be found on Flickr and Model Mayhem

So what did I learn
1) Make sure you get the model's phone number before the shoot.  I usually ask, but for some reason I didn't.  It would have spared Missy an hour of just sitting around waiting for me
2) Go with your gut.  I should have started with the Black background and would have saved at least an hour of shooting, which leads me to number three
3) Have an idea before starting.  Looking at her port, I already had the idea of how I wanted to light her, dramatic and low-key.
4)  Use your light meter every time you move your lights, move your position, or if the model moves a few feet in any direction.  The low key stuff required very minimal editing.  these were shot at f/5.6 1/160 at ISO 100 using my 70 - 200 Telephoto lens.


Well this was my last shoot for 2009.  I find it hard to believe I've been blogging since March 1, 2009 and started shooting models February 15, 2009.  Thanks to my seven followers, I appreciate the comments and support throughout the year.  It's time to take it up a notch!!!  So, Happy New Year!!! Be Safe and Get Healthy!!!

That's A Wrap for 2009!!!