It’s a while since I had a photoshoot with a person so we arranged to do a fun shoot in the woods. Paula knew of an awesome place so we gathered whatever bits and pieces we had and drove to the location.
I’d never been here before and was blown away by how beautiful it was. I won’t be telling too many people about it just yet, as I want to spend some time exploring and shooting down here. I reckon it’ll be great in Autumn.
During those few hours in the woods, we took lots of photos – over 300 in fact and I’m still working my way through them. Here are a few that I’ve finished with.
Shooting in the woods is always tricky – there’s just so much going on in the scene – it’s very busy. So, we try to simplify by looking for the right place to shoot. Here, the light in the background caught our eye and we thought it would help provide some nice separation with the model.
I got Paula to hold her hands out like this – I always like non-standard poses. Photos should tell a story. In this Paula has control over this place.
At a similar location this time but with a different pose – a bit more gentle and unassuming. The closed eyes suggest a connection with the place. I converted to black and white to simplify the scene even further. Monochrome works well with skin tones.
Towards the end of the woodland path, we came across this really cool tree with gnarly branches that had the inside hollowed out. Paula had this idea of her hiding from something unknown and unseen. I think it worked out quite well and will definitely shoot this tree again.
Throughout, I used a Godox v1 flashgun and a beauty dish – the softbox was just too big and awkward to be lugging around an overgrown forest.
We took loads of other shots but I haven’t got around to editing them yet – sometimes, I like to sit on them for a while. The mind sees things in a scene at the time of shooting that isn’t always apparent until later on. After a few hours, we headed back to where we started.
There was some nice light falling on this woodland path. We got a few shots here. This one shows Paula looking down, sad or pensive. Again, the idea is to tell a story or to connect with the viewer. Photos, where models are obviously posing, don’t always do this. Maybe these photos don’t tell a story either – let me know what you think in a comment below.
One of the last photos of the day was taken at the woodland bridge. Yes, it’s my obligatory dead girl shot. I make these to show or tell something tragic or terrible but in a beautiful scene.
If you have an idea for a photoshoot, why not get in touch and let’s see what we can create together. Feel free to like, share, comment, etc, etc.
