4 Shoots @ the Park

Springtime weather has been somewhat fickle lately. so I jumped at the chance to shoot with 4 of our models, Abra & Kadabra (the twins), Sahara, and Buzz. Unfortunately, they live quite a distance away from our home base, so I had to choose a location based solely on satellite maps from Google! While the park we arrived at was lush, green, and large, it had the irritating feature of being completely flat, which diminishes shoot locales due to background interference. While this hamstrung the shoots a bit (not to mention finding 6-8 different-looking spots within the park for the different models), the shoot went well, all things considered.

First up was Sahara, who has seen an enormous growth spurt since our last shoot 8 months ago. I was quite literally taken aback at her height when she drove up, and looked forward to capturing her new look. Many of the wardrobe items I had brought for her shoot were now too small to be used… but fortunately, she saved the day! She had brought a white summery shirt that she herself had designed and sewn! It was lovely, and you’ll see this wonderful work of fashion design and execution in many of the shots.

Second up were the twins, first Kadabra, then Abra. Kadabra at once mentioned that he had recently acquired his learner’s permit for driving, which he was very excited about (weren’t we all at that milestone?). Finding a suitable locale for Kadabra’s shoot was the main challenge… his wardrobe for this shoot consisted of mostly urban-looking clothes, yet all around us was nature. We rose to the challenge and finally found a brick backdrop that worked well. Reviewing the pictures on the small screen immediately after the shoot, it looked to me like we had just shot an album cover. All we need now is for Kadabra to go into the studio and make therecord! 😉

Abra’s wardrobe was much more amenable to a natural backdrop of leaves (although we did make use of a nice brick facade later in the shoot). Abra has quite a sense of poise and naturalness that seems to grow with each shoot. While many of the shots were rendered null because we were playing with the natural lighting and shadows, some of the more dramatic light-and-shadow shots we did get turned out very nicely!

Last up was Buzz (no longer BY’s youngest model with the addition of Cameron). I always look forward to shoots with Buzz- he has such a joy for living and a curiosity that is infectious. More so than any other model that works on the BY Project, he is always inventing poses, scenes, props, and unique ways to make the shoot. That held true for this shoot as well, as we started shooting right off the bat, and letting the shoot take a life of its own. We were very pleased with the shots from Buzz’s shoot.