Stay Flexible and Use What You’ve Got.
I haven’t shared a digital photo session in a while and what better way to reintroduce that than with a fun story / photoshoot that I never intended to have.
Staying flexible and able to adjust with either poor planning, life roadblocks, or any perceived limitation is a must as a creative. I’ve found that when I’m backed into a corner I create the best, so when a challenge arises that presents itself as a day ender I find myself slightly smirking ready to bring it on.
I had planned on creating a Spring active-ware/activity ad for a brand I support, nabbed a model, got everything buttoned up to go shoot and… no charge in my Paul C. Buff Vagabond battery to power my lights. I totally forgot to charge it. Ok… I have a couple speed lights… lets use that… no batteries for those in site. Second wammy. Ok eff it… lets go 6’ reflector status. Haven’t done that in a while. It should be fun.
Me, model, stands, reflector, camera… check. We head out to the only tennis court in this small country town to find the courts completely packed. “GREAT!”. We park and I go up to see if there just so happened to be a small space I can set up my gear for a quick shoot only to find that Ms. Chloe Buckner is decked out in tennis gear walking to the court. “Oh hey Chloe!! What are you doing here?”… “I play tennis!” she said in a playful excited voice. I laugh and ask what’s going on. Apparently there are matches that afternoon so they’re warming up. I ask Chloe if she thought there would be a small corner on the court I could shoot… she responded with yes, and away we went.
Now… I had no intentions of shooting Chloe this day and booked a model to come out and play the tennis player roll for the shoot. The model did amazing but after a few photos of her, Chloe started warming up on the court we were set up on. I asked Chloe if she’d like to jump in for a few shots as she most definitely fit the part and she was amped to do so. More importantly her tennis coach was amped she was in an impromptu shoot and didn’t mind me interrupting her warm up. Pretty positive and supportive group all around that provided me the flexibility to capture some really solid portraits that I’m proud to share with you today.
I used:
Canon 5D Mark IV
Canon 70-200mm Lens
6’ Reflector
2 C-Stands
I hope you enjoy!
Oh… and fun fact… this impromptu shoot might have led me to shoot the entire team’s headshots… You never know what’s around the corner. Stay positive and flexible.