Sydni - Tempest (Patreon)

This set of images with Sydni has been one of the most difficult artistic journeys of my life. I had the idea for them and was so crazy excited to shoot them, but I was in need of a large open space, and was hoping it would be well lit. I found a warehouse that seemed suitable, and took Sydni out there with me on a very short notice. It turned out that there was no electricity and the warehouse was extremely dark! Thankfully I had brought all of my lighting equipment just in case, but it turns out lighting a gigantic pitch black space is easier said than done (even with 3 high powered strobes!) 

After much trial and error I came to this setup, and while I liked it ok, I didn’t think it was overall very good. Still, we had to try and so we shot an entire set, and moved on to shooting with the water itself.

After several days of working on these images, I felt they weren’t very good. Don’t get me wrong, I think Sydni’s posing and modeling is on point, and she looks amazing!! But I felt I really messed up in every area that I was in control of. The environment, the lighting setup, the compositing of the water (which we actually shot in camera, this was done on location) - overall I just felt I had done a poor job. Still, I shared them on instagram, and they have turned out to be by far my most popular photos I have ever shared. Everyone I meet tells me how amazing those photos are, and it is just so difficult to believe. So, despite my feelings of failure, I want to share these pieces with you all, as well as teach you how to make your own. I will be posting a full course soon on my process, from idea to completion to create this type of imagery. As long as you have a camera and a tripod you too can make something similar!

Find the outfit on Etsy and follow me on Insta and Twitter!