I finally got around to processing the photos from my Friday night shoot with Brenda. She was great. She’s another of the hip hop dancers I shot back in the spring. She has this very tall and strong body, and it was easy to pose her. I’d just mention roughly what I wanted to see and Brenda would fall exactly into that pose immediately, in a way that was instantly photogenic. It was a good thing that she was easy to work with, because I was definitely not in the mood to shoot on Friday. My Internet connection had been acting up all day, cutting out for hours at a time. This meant my business phone line, which is VOIP, wouldn’t work. Meanwhile, my new server was being installed, and email wasn’t working. I was trying to prepare stuff for the weekend show too. I felt very rushed, jamming stuff into bags and running out the door to get to Laura’s studio on time. I regretted committing to the shoot. All I wanted to do was stay home and fix that email server. However, after getting the camera in my hands, and taking a few test shots, I got into it. I worked a lot with direct light again, just like Clarissa’s shoot. I was simulating direct sunlight with a single strobe to match the early-evening light in the studio. It was very challenging, and often didn’t work the way I wanted. But I enjoyed the work, and the mental process. By the end, I didn’t want to go home.

Anyway, here’s my favorite shot from the night.