The Team.

I’ve always been cautious when it came to working with others on a photoshoot. I’ve held off using makeup artists, stylists, designers, and even assistants for as long as I possibly could. I would use the occasional makeup artists here or then when the time called for one, but for the most part I did my own thing. I didn’t like the idea of throwing in an unknown factor that could throw off what I had planned. I’ve always been really picky for what I do with my photography; I’ve always been really technical down to the last detail, so doing everything myself was a must. I researched and perfected my post production to the point where I could add remove makeup that wasn’t there. I liked the idea of being in complete control.

However, the other week while I was at an agency I was suggested a new and upcoming designer, Reise Kochi. The agency director assured me the working with him would push me out in the right direction. I soon warmed up to the idea and began planning out a team that I could work with on shoots from then on. I got in touch with a young makeup artist by the name Bree Chang. Talented, developing her craft, but most importantly passionate about what she’s doing. Lastly to round up this newly developing team, Ryan Moore. My cousin, friend, and my go to guy. I can always count on him being there when there’s a shoot. He’s passionate with photography like me, and we have a lot to learn from each other. He’s one of the people I feel I can inspire and be inspired by. Taking pictures with him leads to developments in my technique and craft.

So with this newly formed team I set up a shoot with Hailee from Niche Models and Talent. We did this shoot out on Moanalua Valley Trail, an absolutely amazing location. The environment changes every five minutes, there’s an old foot bridge that’s got some wear to it, a foliage and vines that cover everything. Simply put, it’s a landscape photographer’s dream location. Since I’m so cautious when working with new people, I gave Reise full control over what he wished to style on Hailee. To me, this was a way to feel out how his style, his thought process, and how he works. This allowed me to find a mutual ground to meet him in the middle so our creative ideas wouldn’t clash. On the other hand, I gave Bree a clear defined idea for the makeup so I could judge if the ideas that I pitched to her were lost in translation or if she understood just what I was asking of her.

Now to the technical side of things. For the first shot I used the 85mm f/1.2L with no artificial lighting. The shots were approximately an hour and a half before sunset so a beautiful set of light was pouring through breaks in the trees. Initially I tested this shot with both silver and white reflectors, but it ended up reducing contrast too much, making it feel unnatural and staged.

This second shot became a little more technical. To recreate a dreamy sunset in the forest I stuck to the 85mm f/1.2L but used a beauty dish with a sock to recreate some lighting and help darken the background. Using the sock on the beauty dish helped to maintain a natural feel to the photograph. The Einstein 640Ws Monolight allowed me to shoot at f/1.2 due to the extremely low output that it’s capable of. I was quite impressed with the consistency that this light has even at low outputs.

Lastly, we did a set that has a slightly more candid feel to it. Instead of going for a darker feel to the image I went about it by lowering the output of the strobe even further and dragging the shutter a little to longer to give it more ambient light, creating a feel as if it were captured earlier in the day. I broad lit the shot to give it a softer feel for it, placing the strobe on a boom to my right to give it lighting from a angle which would have produced loop lighting had she been facing forward. Broad lighting this shot also threw even lighting onto her back, removing any casts from the environment that would have reflected onto her.

In the end things worked out well. Shooting with an entire team changed the way I worked. When I shot alone it was like sitting in your room with your guitar and five or six loops pedals to make you bigger and better than you really are. Although I played this shoot safe to see what others brought to the table, I can see the benefits of a team already. Immediately I can see the stress reducing, allowing me to pay attention to lighting, posing, framing, focal length, distortion, etc. Expect to see more team efforts soon, lots of planning and producing is happening as I write this post!