Alexis in Monochrome

Last Wednesday, I worked with Alexis on a second photoshoot! We were both so stoked about the images from our first shoot, that we had to do a second shoot :)

First and foremost, Alexis is one of the most down to earth people I've ever had the pleasure of working with, and has really made a difference in my recent photography. In addition to inspiring me to shoot more B&W portraits, working with Alexis has made me realize how truly rewarding a shoot can be if photographer and model both give 110% so that everything just clicks into place along the way.

 The shoot itself was quite an adventure. The forecast for the day had said there would be several passing showers, so I waterproofed my gear and had Alexis bring an umbrella for some possible shots in the rain. I figured instead of fighting the rain and choosing another location, just go with the flow and see what happens:) 


For the first couple of hours, we had some gorgeous diffused light, so we went with our original plan of shooting some casual and swimsuit outfits. The image above was taken with a Lensbaby Composer that I borrowed from my good friend David Lau. I try to do something different at each shoot, so the Lensbaby was my venture outside my comfort zone. It's tricky, since it's all manual focus, but the effects can be way cool :)

 There is something that is truly amazing with B&W...it simplifies an image to its purest form and heart, and I felt these following images best conveyed the subdued, moody feel that I was going for. Alexis did a fantastic job in conveying these emotions with her poses and expressions. 

Believe it or not, this was shot across a rain puddle from a previous shower :) I stumbled across this shot by accident when I had taken a shot of Alexis while kneeling on the ground. I quickly realized that the 1/2 inch deep puddle in front of me would throw an amazing reflection if I got down on the ground. This was the shot for me from the shoot :)

we did a bunch of shots in the tall grass for textures and variation in the shoot. Shortly after this, the rain began to fall...

Out came the umbrella and rain covers, and we continued to shoot :)

I've always wanted to capture a moody portrait in the rain, so when I saw this on my camera's LCD screen, I was stoked! After we got this shot, we packed up all our stuff and headed over to Hokkaido Ramen for a well-deserved dinner :)