Helena & Davin

It was a perfect storm. We were driving to this location outside of calgary last week, and according to the radar, the storm was supposed to stay out of this area. However nature doesn't follow weather predictions.
We were just a few kilometers off when hail started falling. It was borderline terrifying. The only large cover I had, a reflector, I offered it to cover their car. Ha ha. In retrospect, I may have been sarcastic. 

We could spot all the cars pulling over to the side of the road, some, foolishly, continued on. 

It soon stopped and left a lot of hail at the shooting locations, and also some fog. There was a lot of low lying fog in the area, making for a romantic setting. Besides the fact that it wasn't a comfortable warm, the conditions were perfect for a photo-shoot.  

While I did have a whole lighting setup for this shoot, the three photos below are all natural light.   

Under the influence of McNally with Jen Maslak

Jen is a very genuine, beautiful and fun person to work with. Not only is she a model, but also a mom and a floral designer [and yes she's talented!!]. I just met her that day, and worked with her for 2 hours, and already we talked like friends that had known each other for a long time. It made the shoot much more enjoyable. 

This shoot was inspired by Joe McNally, a truly gifted photographer, I'm one of his many admirers.  I bought the book 'Sketching Light by Joe McNally' almost a year ago. I flipped through it several times, and then put it on the shelf, feeling inspired. I created great work. So the other day as I was cleaning my room [thank god my mom doesn't have to see it] and rediscovered his book. I read it front to back. I again felt über inspired and asked on CFC if anyone could help me. Jen volunteered. 

I left my tripod at home [couldn't find the base plate] even though I knew we'd be shooting long exposure. So for some of these shots I had to trust my stability and IS lenses to keep the photos sharp when shooting at 1/15 second handheld, you try doing that! 

All these shots were taken at Big Hill Springs just 20 minutes north west of Calgary.