The Anatomy of a Photo Shoot

I go to extremes when I am doing shoots, spending way too much money, making costumes, investing in make-up and other supplies. I rarely, if ever, recoup my money from the shoots. But that's okay, I love doing it. So, for now, that's enough.

Crystal, (my friend and assistant) and I have been planning a shoot for over a month now with a model from Arizona. This shoot was to be a nude, and we decided to go all out on the props. It didn't work out as I had expected, but I have so far found the results to be satisfying anyway.

The first thing we did was to collect about 15 dead trees and sink them in a plaster base so they would stand on their own. No easy task in itself. For this shoot, the studio area was one quarter of my fiancé's warehouse. We set up boxes and ladders, and attached two backdrops high and low.

Next we laid a flooring of carpet padding, and set the trees where we wanted them. Added some sprigs of wild grass, and sprinkled the whole set liberally with plaster.

Then we set up our lights, and added homemade diffusers. (I was not happy with the lighting setup, or my diffusers. Add something else to the shopping list please.)

Below are some photos of the setup as we were working on it. I'll post some images later tonight when I get them done ;)