Late Night, Early Morning

Late Night, Early Morning

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That was the case for Kacia, a senior at a local Tacoma high school. She had her prom dance the night before, and was out until 4 am, then had to wake up and be ready for our shoot downtown at 8 am! Though her gas tank was on empty, she did a great job convincing the camera otherwise. I can’t promise you that I wouldn’t be looking like a drunk Steve Buscemi after only 3 or so hours of sleep and got in front of a camera.

We shot in and around the old 11th street bridge. There are endless shooting possibilities there, and I always love using it for my subjects. Needless to say, it’s not your typical boring senior picture location, sitting in front of a cloudy-brownish-fugly backdrop with a forced, corny pose and smile, not that there is anything wrong with that… (eye roll). We wanted Kacia to have fresh, unique pictures that will set her apart from the dime-a-dozen senior portraits that are unfortunately occurring as we speak (er, read) all over the place. When her picture is in a stack with other senior pictures, her’s will pop out from the rest. Yes, the goal is to take a really great picture, but equally as important is capturing that great picture in a way that is truly different.

It was a brisk morning so we moved quicking from spot to spot, also so Kacia could get home and sleep!

I shot all of these with a single Alien Bee 800, with a 24×24″ softbox. There were a handful of shots where only natural light was used, but for the most part a single light was used to capture Kacia. She has a very nice look, whether she is smiling or not. I’d be interested to capture Kacia with a full nights sleep! 🙂