While a good photographer can take interesting photos pretty much anywhere, a nice location can really help. For example, there is an area of Morningside, Edinburgh, that looks pretty much like an old Wild West Street.
Absolutely had to get a shot in front of the Wild West Jail. This is a one light set-up, with the accent on my model, Gemma. We tried a number of poses and this was my favourite.While the shot above was my favourite, Gemma preferred this one.
I had first contacted Gemma on Model Mayhem many years ago, but for some reason, we only got to shoot together recently. We both knew of this Wild West location, but never did a shoot there. We quickly decided on an “East meets the Wild West” theme, adding a martial arts twist to the western theme, as Gemma used to belong to the Edinburgh University Muay Thai group.
My second favourite pose. I prefer this pic over the one below.But Gemma preferred this one.
I like to shoot around sunset time, because I can more easily overpower the ambient light with speedlights. That gives me more control over the look of my pictures.
I was attracted to this house in the Wild West street because of the wooden texture of the wall. One speed light in a softbox in front of the model to light her as I chose to underexpose the ambient light by about one stop and a half.Gemma wanted to show of her new tattoo, so she removed the Muay Thai sweater for the remainder of the shoot.While I prefer the pose on the previous pic, this one better shows off Gemma’s new tattoo.
When the light levels got really low, I chose to completely kill the ambient with my flashes and create a moody atmosphere with coloured gels.
I wanted to give the scene a night feel, so I lit the wall behind Gemma using a flash with a blue gel on it. Another speed light was used to light the model.I wasn’t entirely happy with the previous shot as the stair hand rail merged with the model. So I decided to use a third flash with a red gel on it to separate the rail from my model.Paraphrasing one of my favourite photographers, Bryan Peterson, “What is the best way to shoot a horizontal? Right after you shoot a vertical”.Here’s another favourite pic of mine from this shoot.And another and final one.
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