Okay, so that was weird.

I had scheduled a photo shoot yesterday with a Nigerian model named Agatha. She's an amateur and fairly inexperienced: I've worked with her before and while she's really built and has great features, she was very tight and didn't project or pose confidently, probably due to her inexperience. She kept asking me very nicely if I'd shoot her again, and my portfolio is sort of skewed toward the Caucasian side, so I thought I'd give her another shot, especially since she agreed to do a "Girls in Towels" shoot. (Note to models: I will give pretty much ANY model a TFP session if she will agree to shoot for my "Girls in Towels" project.)

About 5:15 (shoot starts at 7 PM) I realize that I've done something very, very stupid. Something I've never ever done before. (I've done stupid things before, just not this one.)

I left my camera bag at home.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

No camera. No light meter. No lenses. No CF cards. Nada.

BUT WAIT!

Here's the part where it starts to get weird.

I bought a computer for somebody online the other day (it's just a little service I provide.) When I bought it, the place I bought it from offered me a 25% coupon for any digital camera they sold... which included the EOS 350D (aka Digital Rebel XT.) Plus I had a $40 off any purchase of $200/more. Plus there's a $75 rebate on the camera. Plus free shipping. I couldn't NOT do it. So I bought a $900 camera for like $650.

And guess what? It arrived yesterday.

Now I still have no lenses and no CF. I thought, "No problem. I'll rent a lens from Calumet." Except... they close at 5:30. (I thought they closed at 6.) Can't get there that fast. No dice. Central Camera? Helix? Both closed. But there's a Wolf "We Will Take All Your Money and You Will Thank Us, Pukeface" Camera a mile from my studio. A frantic call. "The only EOS lens we have in stock for less than *obscene amount of money* is the 50mm f1.8." Fine. I'll take it. Over to there I run. They have the lens. I buy a 256MB CF card for a RIDICULOUSLY high price, but I'm desperate. And - o joy - they have a hotshoe to PC adapter so I can run my strobes. Ring it all up, Mr. Barnum. Back to the studio!

Model shows up five minutes late, which in Model Time is early, but which gives me a fun twenty minutes or so of, "If she doesn't show up... rassen frassen ()&$(*#!"

So I explain to the model I have one non-zoom lens and ONE CF card, which gives me sixty shots. If I want to zoom in or out, I have to do it with my feet. Can't use my tripod, because I have to stand with my back against the wall to get a full frame shot. (This lens equates to 85mm on a 35mm camera and the model's only about ten or twelve feet away from me.) No bounce flash off the ceiling (I usually use my 420EX Speedlite to trigger my strobes and also to get a little hair light.) What we got is what we got. She says, "Well, okay, we'll see what happens."

This is what happens:



Holy.

Bleep.

I have to ration shots like water in the desert. So every shot, I frame up carefully. Every shot, I pose the model precisely. Every shot, I watch my lighting, watch my shadows. The lens may be a cheap piece of plastic, but it's a prime lens, and it's a fast lens, and it does not let me down. I end up doing one of the best shoots of my career to date.

And the model blows me away. Her posing and energy have improved 500%. She's much more comfortable with her body. And the outfits she brought! Wow! I never would have expected them after the last time. There's the one above. There's a "naughty nurse" outfit which, while somewhat cheesy, shows her off like nobody's business. And she does the towel shots with a smile and a flash. And speaking of, no bounce flash for that, either. So ISO 800 and off we go. And those are great too. My Muse was having a great deal of fun with me last night.

Now, the shots do still need some work. But when you consider the conditions I had going in, I'm frankly amazed with the success I had. So let that be a lesson to you - never give up.

M

God I love it when accidents come up roses.

I love it even more when you can look at your own image with no PS and say WOW! Geez, I did that? Nice!

Congrats, and I wish you more of these! 

along the same lines, i forced myself to shoot ONLY with  20mm lens for a whole month...why???...cuz i could...i did...and it was actually fun.

wow wow... your shot of her and your story gave me goose bumps.