Portrait Express

Rarely things go as planned when taking photos. Sometimes you have things pretty much mapped out in your mind as to what you think you'd like to do so you prepare to do what you accordingly. And then sometimes there is a miscommunication and you show up late to do photos. Yep, I was 15 minutes late for this photo shoot with Michelle Staples.

When I arrived she sprang a surprise on me. She had originally planned to do a portrait shoot for her professional use but also some with a more casual look. But now she had decided to run for City of Duncan council and the photos had to be ready right away for the upcoming election campaign. And more good news. We had just over 60 minutes to do it all! 

Luckily, we were in downtown Duncan, which is tiny but charming. I had already scouted out some locations, all within five minutes walking distance. My goal was to give as much variety as possible in the time we had to work with and carry as little gear as needed since we were on foot.

The late afternoon sun was perfect as a back light and I used one speedlite with a huge 60" umbrella as the key light. We actually got everything we needed done downtown ahead of schedule so we packed up and went for a more casual look about 1.5kms from downtown. Gotta love Duncan!

The grass in this field was so tall (over 2 meters), I had to pack down a trail for us to get through.

And just as the sun was starting to drop in the horizon and time was about to run out, I grabbed my favorite shot. Lots of productivity in practically no time at all!

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