A Location Shoot With a Spanish Feel
- At May 12, 2011
- By Chris
- In Location Portraits, Portrait Photography
0
The original plan was always to do some additional shots for Jono’s promo photos, but we thought a more exotic feel would be appropriate. So we hopped on a plane out to Spain for a few days.
Our first stop was this ideal little bar in a small fishing village not far from his friend’s villa that we were staying at for a few days for the shoot. We had to wait until quite late for the drinkers to dissipate and give us some room to set up a flash behind the bar and at the back of the room but it was worth it for the atmosphere. You can even see the flowers left by the flamenco dancer on top of the piano on the right. It’s the little details like this that I really love about location shoots.
For the next set-up, Jono sat out on the terrace overlooking the lights of the wharf for a pensive, atmospheric shot with some lighting through the patterned carvings behind.
…..okay, I confess, I may just have told a little lie there. The shots weren’t taken in Spain, but in CJ’s coffee bar in East Grinstead, West Sussex on a cold February night. I just wanted to create the illusion for a minute to illustrate the power of suggestion that you get from shooting on location.
Very much like when you’re watching a film, the scene shows the characters up against the odds on a recently colonised planet at the far edge of the galaxy – it was actually a rainy Tuesday morning at Elstree Studios, not long after breakfast.
Having a shoot on location can create some of the most interesting and unique shots, it just depends on what feel you want to go for. Location shoots can be fairly simple or complex setups with set dressing and advanced lighting. Using a mix of the location’s lighting, natural lighting and my flash units, I can tailor the ‘set’ to suit the required mood perfectly giving you unique shots with atmosphere and gravitas.
Of course, you may not get the most convincing exterior shots with a Spanish feel in West Sussex, but I’m very happy to travel, to Spain or anywhere else you’d like to fly me out to. My passport is fully up to date!
