About a week after my first shoot with Jill, my friend Johnny (sorry Johnny… I won’t tell you how sexy you are like I do Jill, haha) and I went on a search for a shooting place around town (well, his town anyways.) In the middle of suburbia, we found a clearing in the hills and a trail that led into the distance. There were power lines overhead, super tall, super thick brush and who knows what underneath our feet.

We got up the first hill up by the power line towers and found a full-on universal gym! The only thing wrong with it was the dirt and rust; otherwise it was in perfect condition. Why someone would put something like that up there, or even HOW they got it there (those things weigh a ton!) is a complete mystery. There was also an old shattered scanner, a smashed-in TV, a car battery and a number of other random things. Strange, strange place, haha.

But I digress…

We continue up the hill through the impossibly thick brush (because we like to the the impossible, lol) and get to the top. Once we get there we spot more trails off in the distance and a couple guys riding a motorbike and a quad. At that point we were panting and shaking our fists in jealousy. As our eyes followed the paths we spotted an unlikely structure on top of another hill. Finished in slate and fancy wood beams, this thing looked like it belonged in the backyard of a newly built, expensive model home, yet there it stood in the middle of nowhere. We were determined to get there.

We went back down the hill to the trail, followed it BACKWARDS (the trail led around another hill before it went in the direction of our destination,) and walked for 15 minutes before finally getting a peek of the pseudo-patio again. There were a number of seat/table-looking things that stood about three feet tall lined up on the ground; almost as if a stage was being built but only the seats were finished. We (I…) set up the tripods and speedlights then went to work… or whatever you wanna call it, haha.

We ended up getting there a bit late, so all the photos were taken at sunset and it was interesting learning how to light it. I even experimented with gels for the first time (they were mailed to me that day actually) as you can see some of the shots were shot with a CTO gel (creating a color similar to the setting sun) on one side of Johnny.

And if you were wondering about the rest of Jill’s photos from the last shoot, I’ll have those up soon (hopefully.) I’ve been slacking and haven’t really been able to get to the rest of them (although I do have a handful ready to go.

I am also experimenting with a new way to post photos so expect to see some changes in the next few posts and keep an eye out for a new “Gallery” link at the top of the page. I am creating a page that will have all my photos in one place so you can browse photos without having to search for old posts. And please register (click the link at the top of the page) so you can receive updates on when I make new posts!

*NOTE: If the enlarged image appears to be cut off (like vertical pictures) you can click and drag the image to view the rest of the photo.*