Walking into a new location, seeing something I’ve never seen before, and then imagining what we will create there… I love this aspect of photography. It’s like the entire space becomes a canvas, a place with incredible possibilities that have yet to be discovered.
This was what happened when I walked into Jenny Arthur’s gym. Arthur, an Olympic weightlifter, is a decorated athlete, with many titles and medals to her name. When I arrived at her gym, I looked at the windows, walls, colors, objects in the space, my mind racing with all the things we can do.
This is a perfect example of how I plan a shoot. If possible, I go into the location ahead of time to scout, or, at the very least, I have someone else scout the location and send me pictures and video. I like to “feel” the location, visualizing everything I’m going to do in the space before it happens.
Most of the time, I might seem hilarious, walking around, admiring windows and the area’s layout, while internally thinking, “Wow, this is an amazing window! If we just put six lights outside, then an octabox here, and we’ll use CTOs!” My mind is racing, imagining every possibility and planning within seconds.
The lens:
One of the major components that I think about when walking through a space is what lens I’ll use. In this case, the space was relatively small, and I knew I would need to be somewhat close to Arthur in certain circumstances to create the feel I was going for.
Enter the 15-30mm 2.8 lens from Tamron. It’s truly incredible the things this lens enables me to create. That’s really what I look for in my equipment… whether or not it will help me create the things I see in my mind. Even though this lens is commonly used for landscape photography, I love using it for portraits. It creates a unique look and feel, while enabling you to get images in tight spaces that would otherwise be impossible.
The photo:
We ended up shooting with this lens for most of the images, and for this particular shot we had four strobes with 7” reflectors outside the window (all with CTO, or Color Temperature Orange, gels), a large strip box above her, and a white reflector on the floor below to fill in some of the shadows. I was pretty close to her for this image and love how powerful she feels because of the low angle, which was possible because of how wide the lens can get.
I often find myself jammed into tight spaces, and the 15-30mm lens is there to bail me out. Its ability to help transform a space is truly invaluable for me.
Now go out there and create something beautiful… and don’t forget to be awesome!
