Recently we got back from doing stock shoots in Grand Cayman, BWI. An island that has seen it's share of devastation from Ivan and other hurricanes is making a strong come back. It's been a while since I did tropical work and I was quickly reminded by how elemental and feisty Mother Nature can be and how good it is to be ready for anything.
We met with a fun and sparkly model named Princess while we were on Cayman. Early one morning we got together and had no idea we would face multiple different environmental conditions. Luckily when you are in the tropics, especially an island with good trade winds, you should know that your conditions can shift in heartbeats. You don't want it to, but it can.
A Perfect Start to the Photo Shoot
It was a perfect start. Low sun, amber light, gray clouds littering the sky in an artful fashion. Even the temperatures were perfect; everything was how you could want it to be.
We started the shoot quickly and efficiently. Setting up on some isolated palms with some minor cross lighting to make sure shadows didn't occlude the features of our model. I was pretty happy with where we were heading and sighed a little in relief. These days don't come often enough.
I must have sighed too loudly for the environment was about to shift.
The Light, it Hurts Us
The sun decided it was ready to get up and it rose fast and furious. The clouds melted away in fear and the bright eye was hard to compete against. We went from umbrella's to direct lighting in a heartbeat and even that barely dented the amount of cross lighting necessary for the location we were at.
We fell back to a few shady locations that we scouted out on arrival. For a few more minutes we were greeted with a nice serenity. The palms we had found broke the light nicely into dappling but not overly dark patterns.
We set our own lighting back up for broader light, allowing umbrella softboxing to cast a nice glow on Princess. We took our time here looking for neat ways to incorporate the island, the plant life, and the ocean in ways that we felt would be compelling. I think we achieved a lot of what we were looking for before the next transition was to take place.
Time for Wind and Rain
As we photographed and shot from different vantages and angles that the new location brought a stream of clouds raced towards us in the distance. Princess knew the look of those clouds and warned us so.
As soon as the umbrellas were coming down the wind hit us full on. Using bungies and bags we hid away the last of our lighting gear. Taking out our rain covers we prepared for the impending rain and got to use it to our advantage as it created quite a neat lost look with our model wandering around the local brush.
We snapped a few ideas but by the look of it we really weren't sure if it was going to be a light rain or a monsoon. We gathered up the last of our equipment and began walking back to some indoor conditions that we could control and were glad for it. The rain came down hard and with the wind as high as it was the rain went horizontal from gust to gust. No fear though, we had everything we needed.
Keeping Worst Case as Best Case
If you keep the view that you're going to be challenged you'll have 10x more fun when you are not, and 100x more assured when conditions do deteriorate. It was weather this outing but it could have easily been something else from vehicular, model, makeup, or equipment. Staying on top of all of this will make you a better photographer, a better assistant, a better participant in the chaos that can be a photo shoot.
During all of this it is important to communicate clearly, keep everyone up to date with your thoughts, and staying positive. If you deteriorate everyone else will too. Look for the solutions quickly and keep control of your emotions.
Andy Ciordia
