Icons of Wood Photo Contest Submission {30 photoshoot speedlight challenge #16}

Model: G'monay Houston, Makeup artist: Anabel Zurita. This is photo submission #2

I entered my first photo contest today. The prompt asked us to elicit emotions with wood. Specifically, in the way the prompt asked it, we were asked "to take pictures describing the emotions spread by this worthy material". The Icons Furniture Company put it on. You can read more about the contest here.

I really liked the whole experience.

Click here to read more about this shoot

Lets start by saying that I in no way expect to win this competition. The quality of submissions to these things are just outstanding. I entered anyway and enlisted my best talent because, regardless of what my expectations were, I wanted to give it my best.

Model: G'monay Houston, Makeup artist: Anabel Zurita. This is photo submission #1

I may have chose an interpretation of this prompt that was extremely literal. Yeah, I'll just get a model and illustrate the emotions FOR the wood. Trust me when I say that I didn't want to just be lazy here. My first instinct was to rent a ring light and do some macro photography of someone doing something rad like sensually sanding and staining a cabinet. I could get a fixed macro and win by having the creamiest bokeh. I then realized that this would have been challenging, but not original. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And also, I have no experience in Macro photography. At the end of the day, I am a portrait photographer. That is where my experience lies.

So I enlist Anabel and asked her if she could do anything that would look like wood camaflouge. I wanted to try to get the model to look like she was coming out of the wood. I was a little bit worried that it might look a little bit military-ish. I told her that if she didn't feel like she could do a photo realistic job, she should take some creative license and go a different direction. She ended up doing the most bomb thing. She used some neat makeup-artisty-things and made it look like tree roots are coming out of her neck. Ahhh so cool.

A closeup so you can see the makeup detail. This photo was not submitted.

This bit of awesome lead to technical challenges later on. I wanted to use some heavy fill lights to enhance the shadows in the final product. Having special effects in a cavity of her body made it difficult to have both mood shadows and cavity fill lighting. In some of the photos, the special effects are barely noticeable if they haven't completely disappeared.

The special effects have almost completely disappeared

It was a shame because the challenging fill light situation caused a dismissal of a majority of the photos. I had that weeding problem in addition to the usual stuff. I had to make sure my lights went off, the exposures were right, and that I caught G'monay at exactly the right moment. You know, not blinking and stuff. I am glad there were three submissions, because I had about 3 photos that matched all the criteria.

Contest Submission #3

All in All, I am super happy with the photos. Its indisputable that I am moving forward with my skill, and that is where I get happiness in life.

"There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something."Henry Ford

The 30 Photoshoot speedlight challenge is a Self Challenge where I attempt to learn as much as I can about lighting. Read more about the 30 photoshoot challenge and follow my journey by clicking on the links below.