It has been quite some time since my last blog post.. I have an amazing amount of updates to share with everyone so I promise to make the posts much more regular
Since I have been gone so long, how about I start off with a blast? This photoshoot has been in my planning book for many, many months. Meredith Placko, a friend and professional costumer, has an amazing looking Emma Frost cosplay and it really did spark this idea. I wanted to create a set in which we would have actual snow to photograph.. I was going for that “wilderness tundra” look.. and to spice it up really nicely, how about a Canadian Lynx on the set?
The big day came and I got everyone together. Meredith, Lindze Merrit for really awesome makeup design, The House of Canney for wardrobe and dress assistance and even a video crew to document the eventful day. Oh, and I cannot forget about my assistants who helped me very much – Matt Seemann and Christopher Wong. We had over 200 pounds of snow on set.. and I totally was not going to do that alone.
The biggest and most exhausting issue was the fact that we made the set on a very steep hill. I wanted snow on the backgrounds of the picture and making buckets of it and hiking it up and down the hill took over 5 hours to do. I had zero energy left by the time I was ready to begin shooting. Placing lights on the steep hill was also an issue.. People couldn’t stand up there long to hold them due to the angle and the artificial snow was literally not touchable due to its EXTREMELY slippery texture. Meredith could NOT move an inch - Seriously.. if you touched it with your foot.. you fell on your ass.
The two exotic animals used was an African Serval Cat and a Canadian Snow Lynx. The Serval was the most fun.. it was seriously THE MOST A-D-D animal I have ever met. It was jumping all over the place, wanted to eat squirrels and was actually hissing at my crew rather playfully. The shot with the Serval is mid-hiss.
The lynx took a lot of time to get familiar with his surroundings. He got much more comfortable after about an hour of him looking around seeing where he was. We were able to pull off the shot with the Lynx with a bit of luck. He has been getting fed treats all day and was likely expecting one from Meredith This shot is my favorite of the entire day and will be printed for all the shows I am attending this year. It has that “Entranced by Emma Frost” look.. in fact, that is what I am going to name the print
You guys may know by now that I am not really a photo-shopper. I fix just a few things here and there.. I think I took a leaf out of the snow.. fixed some dirt spots.. the normal stuff. the blue effect?.. yeah that was straight from camera.. do I really need to tell you how that was done?
The blizzard-effect was indeed enhanced.. I can’t throw snow that fast and smooth! The lighting setup was 4 lights – two 5-foot strip banks (literally had to stick them into trees for them to stay still), a beauty dish for hair and fill and a deep-octa for key on the left. I was setup with my 200mm to get the background nice and creamy.
I was extremely excited about these photos. They are seriously some of my best work yet and I truly hope these photos are seen throughout the country. I mean, c’mon.. it IS Emma Frost here.. and there ARE exotic animals in the shot.. what else could be more epic?
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So here is a call to action – which one of the 3 is YOUR favorite? Let me know in the comments!
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