Recently I had somewhat of an improvised shoot with Kris. Toms and Ricards kindly came to help. It's not really that the shoot was supposed to be improvised, it was just that the planning I thought I had made didn't really comply with reality. I had seen the location months ago and I thought I remembered it fairly well but it was actually quite a bit different to what I had remembered. This and the fact that we ended up shooting a little bit later than anticipated meant that the things I had planned were well... a little bit useless.
Despite the shortcomings in planning, we managed to take some stellar photos. You see, when you have people around you that are fun to be with it's not that hard to just be spontaneous and come up with something on the go. I think the image right below in fact is one of my favourite images I have ever taken. The original location was under a viaduct but there was a ladder that went up to the E40 so naturally, we climbed it. We were probably there for about 15 minutes but I think these 15 minutes resulted in one of the best images I have ever taken. It's got this sort of vibe about it that I haven't quite achieved before. It's hard to put into words... the image just sort of speaks to me.
Kris and I found a ladder to the middle of E40.
The following photo is perhaps closest to what I originally planned. I wanted to capture the face in a mirror and also capture the reflections in the background. The latter part didn't quite work as we started the photoshoot so late. Nevertheless, the photo actually came up looking pretty good. Not what I had in mind, but good nevertheless. I really like the smoky edges and while editing I found that this sort of sharp black and white look worked well.
Mirrors are fun.
This next photo appeared out of pure spontaneity. Kris was sitting on the staircase that went up to the highway and he was holding onto the railings. There are so many little imperfections about this photo that I wish weren't there but there's something about it that's a little bit special. The expression on his face is just kind of... mesmerising.
An interesting one.
This shoot was one of many imperfections and the planning for it on my part was garbage. That being said, we still managed to create some great looking images and I think that's largely down to working with people who are patient and who don't get frustrated when things aren't going as planned. It's very difficult to produce something that's shit if you and your team just go with the flow.