Nikki was my favorite model to work with because she’d do anything to get the shot. This is a great example. She’s a remarkable woman who I write a little more about in another post.
What is obvious in this image is that there’s a girl kneeling in the water at sunset. You can also tell that the photographer was good enough to properly light her so that the lighting matched the sunset behind her and also made her pop.
What you don’t know is that this is in Chambers Bay WA. The water at the time was about 52 degrees Fahrenheit. If you’ve never been to the Pacific Northwest you probably don’t know that our “beaches” use a pretty broad definition of the word. She’s kneeling on rocks about the size of a golf ball.
I brought out one of my studio lights on a battery pack and an umbrella. I don’t like to use a camera mounted flash because the light is much too small relative to the subject, making for hard light. I’d much rather drag one of my 3′ umbrellas out to get softer light.
The other thing you don’t know is that we attracted quite a crowd. I didn’t realize it while I was working but there was a large group of people watching us from the bridge above us. We attracted a similar crowd at a Mt. Rainier waterfall. Up at Mt. Rainier I repeatedly told her the water she was about to stand under was just melted ice. She wanted a waterfall shot so in she went.
