detroit photo shoot
Last week I had a shoot with my friend Sydney Dauter on Grosse Ile in Michigan. This is my first real shoot in a month or so and it felt great. I was feeling very uninspired the last few months and decided to do a shoot just for me. I wanted it to feel “dreamlike”.
This shoot has inspired a project called Dream Sequence which I will continue throughout the next year.
Photographers worst nightmare: thunder and lightening an hour before your 8am shoot is scheduled.
Yup. I would be lying if I didn't say that I was kind of nervous for this shoot. It was scheduled at 8am at the Ford Yacht Club on Grosse Ile in Michigan. At about 5am and then again at 6am I woke up from the sound of thunder roaring through my window. Great.
As I got up and looked out side, I noticed that the ground was soaked. So Great. Well... it's time like this where you really become a professional photographer and you just have to make it work. The rain stopped, but became this misty wetness in the air, aka a hair nightmare. Good lighting is everything... or so they say. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
It worked. I met Erica and Terry shortly after 8am and the rain had (for the most part) stopped. We immediately starting shooting at the beach front of the Ford Yacht Club. Cute Fact: Erica and Terry met here, so it is a very symbolic place for them. I love when couples add their own personal touches like this to the engagement shoots. There are no signs or props, but just a place. This to me is the best way to really love and connect with your photos. Can you tell I'm not a fan of props?
Fun BTS (Behind the Scenes) fact #1: It was almost rained out. Fun BTS Fact #2: There was Goose poop everywhere. When I say everywhere. I mean e v e r y w h e r e. Romantic, right? As Erica and Terry got into their first outfits I went over to the beach and literally moved sand around with my feet to clear a spot for them to stand and move a little bit. You don't see it in the photos because that is editing magic. Big props to Erica and Terry for being such troopers. Without their good humor and spirits, this would have been a lot harder. New Lightroom ad campaign: Remove Goose Poop and Much, Much More! New RD Photography campaign: I literally will remove Goose Shit for you.
Anyway, back to the not-so-gross stuff. Erica and Terry's beach outfit is a great example of how you can still wear patterns in photos as long as both outfits are cohesive. I absolutely hate photos where everyone is wearing khaki pants and a white tee shirt. You do not have to match completely. The colors just need to work together.
This is also a great example of using your space. GET CREATIVE. This space was not big. The beach itself was only about 15 feet wide. So minus the goose poop area, we only had about 4 feet to work with. As a photographer, move around your subjects. Take it from all different angles to add variety to the shots. This makes 4ft radius sans goose poop look bigger and more interesting. We moved over again and I had them stand on a rock because it was the only part not covered in poop. IT WORKS. The best part of digital photography is that you can take a lot of photos and just delete the ones that don't work.
Overall, this shoot challenged me to be creative and work with what I've got. This is the key to all photo shoots and it's great to have this struggle every now and then to remember how to adapt. If I can do it, you can too.
On Memorial Day weekend I went home to visit my parents on Grosse Ile. I reached out to Alba (Instagram - @albaslyf) via Instagram to see if she wanted to collaborate on a shoot while I was there. She was down and we decided to meet up at my old high school. Lately I've been feeling very uninspired and feeling like my shoots have been very similar. The only images that I could find that I found interesting were at a tennis court. I'm not usually one for chainlink fences, but I'm very happy with the results.
I graduated from this high school in 2008 and I really haven't been to the property since. I'm happy to see that not much has changed and that I was able to remember where to go for these separate locations. With such a sporty location, we wanted to go for more a relaxed look. We did not want to use gym clothes, but we wanted the attire to look appropriate in the location. Alba woke up early and ran to Target and bought the clothes. She kept the tags on so she could return them after. LOL
I had originally planned the shoot to be around 9:30am, but it didn't start until about 11:00am. This made it extremely difficult to shoot. The light was almost directly above us so I had to make sure she was turned away from the light in a lot of the photos to get the right lighting. Always shoot in the morning or at night. Even 11:00am in late May is too harsh. (Yeah, I know, I can put the model in the shadows, but it's way more fun to play with the light)
Engagement photos on Belle Isle, Detroit.
Read MoreDIA engagement photos.
Read MoreLauren is a cheerleader for the Detroit Tiger's and wanted a unique Detroit photoshoot. We went on the top of a parking structure for the first part of the day and then moved to the colorful wall mural. Lastly, we headed to Hammtramck for a few more shots.
