Sheila's Walkabout

Those of you who follow my blog know that I hit another phase of uninspired shooting in May, especially with the Bakersfield heat, playing the role of Art Director, and the drama that seems to affect the local "models."

Back at the end of June, I received a Private Message on Model Mayhem from an Australian Model/Make-up Artist asking if I would be interested in working with her when she came to the States this Summer.  Her name is Darnah and she said that she read my entire "About Me" section on Model Mayhem, which, at the end, states "P.S. If you read this far down, then "Heck Yeah!!! I'll work with You!!!" So I figured if Darnah did make it to the States, that either I wouldn't be available, or I'd still be stuck in my rut and I would cancel our shoot.

On Aug. 18, I received another e-mail from Darnah saying she was in Pismo and ready to "collab."  I waited to respond since I really didn't have a need to go to the Coast, but then as fate would have it, I had to visit one of our large Doctor offices in Pismo Beach.  I messaged Darnah and we were set to "collab" even though I still didn't feel like shooting.  Leading up to the evening of the shoot I still didn't feel creative or have the desire to shoot, but I made a promise to Darnah and I had to follow through on my commitment.  As an aside the weather in Pismo is usually 30 degrees cooler than Bakersfield, but sunny.  On the day of our shoot the sun never broke through so we would be working in very diffused and boring light.

I arrived at Darnah's beach house and was greeted by her.  The first thing I noticed were her piercing blue eyes and her high cheek bones.  Hmmm... a model who looks like, well, a model.  For you gentlemen, her Australian accent is really cool, too.  I asked to do a test shoot by her window and after chimping at the LCD I got that urge to shoot.  IMHO, Darnah is a cross between Christy Turlington and Evangeline Lilly, but with blue eyes.

Darnah showed me her wardrobe and we decided on a trench coat, a black slip and black heels.  Bingo!!! We grabbed our gear and headed off to the pier to shoot in the fog.  I used only one light, my SB-900 with a 1/4 CTO Gel, my combi-boom, and my 33" brolly.  These are definitely my favorite Outdoor pictures in a long time, aside from the image with Kirsti at the abandoned warehouse.

We shot for about an hour and then agreed to head back to my hotel room to shoot a "White Sheets" session and other "implied" images. BTW, Darnah has a friend who joined us at the hotel so get your minds out of the gutter.

For a majority of the shots in the hotel room I used my SB-900 in the Brolly and a reflector.  The settings I tend to use are +1.0 E/V on the SB-900 and -0.3 E/V to - 0.7 E/V on the D700 and shoot at 1/60 shutter.  I leave the speedlights on TTL mode, but shoot in Manual.  The first two shots I posted at the top of this entry were done with the SB-900 as the key and a bare flash SB-600 at +2.0 E/V as the accent light pointed at the camera to create lens flare.

We shot some Clamshell, and Rembrandt lighting styles using my 70mm - 200mm f/2.8G lens along with some Available light stuff using my 50mm f/1.8D Prime Lens.  One cool thing to do is ask the model or MUA bring a blow dryer, if possible.  The simulated wind in the image above was created with a hair dryer.

We shot until real late and I even filled up an 8 GB memory card and had to replace my battery, which was a first for me.  After the shoot I felt inspired again.  This was the first time in a year that I worked with a model that did not require any posing instruction and I was given the opportunity to focus on composing and shooting.  So why a "mixed blessing?"  Working with Darnah helped me out of my rut and has sparked some creative ideas, the downside is that she has raised the bar on what a model needs to bring to the table when we "collab."

Darnah leaves in October, so I'm hoping we get to shoot once more before she goes Down Under.  Oh, thanks Brian for helping out and playing Down Under by Men At Work on your iPhone and Matt for being the "Best Boy" during the shoot.

A big thank you to Darnah for taking a chance and working with me and making this a true win-win situation which is the reason Model Mayhem was created.  Have a safe trip back to Aussie Land, "Where the Women Glow and the Men Plunder."

September I have a "Trash the Dress" shoot with my Junkyard Jane model Nikki, so stay tuned and "That's A Wrap!!!"