25 Jan Bikini Bowling Promo Shoot
Smokin’ Hot Espresso, one of my regular business clients, asked me to come up with a flyer for their upcoming charity event, ‘Bikini Bowling.’ As soon as they popped the question, “can you design it?” I knew exactly what I wanted to do. “Give me in the bowling alley with one of the baristas and you’ll have a great flyer,” was my instant response.
This is a fundraising event for a fellow who is going through his third bout of cancer. It’s very generous of Smokin’ Hot to donate their time, creating a fun evening to raise money to help pay for all the medical expenses.
Stephanie was selected to be the model, which always works out great. We’ve worked many times together, so the shoots are fluid and move along well. Especially when you have to ask a subject, “just go ahead and drape your arms on the balls”…. well, it can get awkward real fast, but with Stephanie it was all in good fun.
Walking into the Chalet Bowl, in Proctor district of Tacoma, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a bowling alley that is somehow snuck into the surrounding businesses. I say “snuck” because I had no idea the bowling alley was there, and I used to live a handful of blocks from the joint. It’s a cute little 12-lane alley, family run for many years, and currently owned/managed by a very nice man who kept us company during the shoot.
Dropping my gear, and taking my first glance around, I was informed we had until 11am to wrap shooting (thought we had until noon). It was 10:15…. Ok, let’s do this. I had to get my location down and get focused real fast. No time for fancy light setups this go-around, I’m gonna have to get what I can with one light and work a small area. Yet another good reason I was working with a regular model.
During the shoot, I got to tell a little fun factoid about myself… When I was in college, I took a bowling class from the local alley in town. First day walking into the alley, I lay my eyes on the instructor. A man in his late 40’s – early 50’s, long gray hair pulled into a pony, gold and silver sparkly bowling shoes, and… a hook for one hand. True story. I know, it immediately makes you think of the bowling movie ‘King Pin.’ After I did a double-take of his appearance, I looked around for the camera. No camera, he was the real deal. Was a great guy, and turned me into a pretty good bowler by the end of the quarter.
Worked real fast, and considering we only had roughly 30 mins to shoot, we came away with some goodies.
For for those interested, the Bikini Bowling event will be this coming Saturday, January 29th, from 7 to 9:30. Lots of fun to have and prizes to win!
Here is the front of the flyer design, I designed the logo as well.
Lots of big news coming up, as well as gear posts…. I promise.