A few weeks ago, I mentioned a mini session I did with Deana Vazquez (a subject of our second series, Portraits from a Distant Era) as consolation for her thirtieth birthday event being canceled thanks to a COVID outbreak. We rescheduled the event, which took place as a small, personal session in the woods, where we were accompanied by John Kidd (seen here in the Auxientia portrait sessions) and Elizabeth MacDougald.
Deana’s idea was to have her friends play costumed characters and interact together. Liz brought her winter fey costume (aka Liz’s take on “The Queen of Air and Darkness”) to play opposite Deana’s verdant spring/summer theme. Here’s a small selection of some of the images we captured.
Oh Deer
The most unexpected and enchanting thing to happen during our shoot in the woods was our encounter with a number of deer, which silently appeared and began to munch on the surrounding vegetation all around us. We were especially pleased to make the acquaintance of a regal young buck with fuzzy little horns.
They didn’t mind us, just went on with their dinner, wandering through our shoot and then further into the woods. It was amazing to see them so close, how they came and went like ghosts.
Camera Stuff
After shooting almost exclusively indoors for the past few years, it’s been fun to get outside this July and shoot with lenses capable of isolating the subject via beautiful bokeh, first with the Midsommer Flight production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, shot with the trusty Canon EF 70–200 f/2.8 lens I’ve been using to shoot events for the past six years. With its 200 mm focal length and the shallow depth of field presented at its most open apertures, that lens was a great choice for shooting a production in the park where the goal was to minimize outside distractions and show intimate moments of character interaction during the course of the show. The lens I shot Deana’s birthday event with goes one step further.
I shot Deana’s birthday event with the Canon EF 85 mm f/1.4, which offers a full stop more light and an even shallower depth of field and blurrier background behind the subject, as you can see especially in the last shot of the gallery above. This prime (non zoom) lens is the lens with which I shoot The People of Light and Shadow. It’s tack sharp and precise, and it’s my lens of choice. In The People of Light and Shadow, it doesn’t get to show off its beautiful, blurry bokeh because—except for the two instances where I accidentally changed the aperture—I shoot that series consistently at f/8 (minimal blurring of the background) . That lens isn’t necessary to shoot The People of Light and Shadow, but I appreciate the sharpness and consistency of prime lenses and the fact that in COVID times the focal length prevents me from getting within six feet of the subject in order to focus.
We played with some other fun tools on this shoot as well. Before the pandemic I picked up a prism to experiment with, but I’ve never used it until now. We played with the prism for a few shots—I think I’d have more success with a lighter lens. The weather cooperated, and despite the bright daylight we had just enough cloud cover during the shoot that hard sunlight rarely crept through the clouds and leaves overhead. Nevertheless, I finished the shoot with a few shots with my own battery-powered light inside a softbox, a mini studio portrait session in the woods.
When considering editing style, I leaned into my favorite editorial film styles, starting off with something akin to Fuji’s Astia and Velvia slide films. I like the way editorial film styles lend the images a different, magazine-style feel.
It was a pleasure shooting Deana’s birthday session. We got two contrasting styles from two different sessions, and I am grateful to her for hiring me to do the work.
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