As reliable are the midwestern Daffodils that bloom in spring, so is the annual tradition of the spring fashion shoot for the Post-Dispatch. From pinks and yellows to muted green tops and Capri pants, this year’s late-teen model Madison handily switched between outfits and looks despite a shooting day filled with rain, cold, and wind at different locations in the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Since the shoot was primarily outside with inclement weather locations inside, assistant Max Gersh and I kept shooting gear to a minimum. The Canon 1D Mark IIn was our primary camera, and we anchored the lighting with an Alien Bee B800 connected to a socked Beauty Dish running power from a Vagabond power supply and fired with a CyberSync transmitter. A pair of Dynalites, several light modifiers, and a collection of reflectors followed in tow.

Normally, inclement weather is enough to scratch a shoot, but the deadline and model restraints were too narrow for rescheduling. We had to shoot regardless – six outfits, four hours – quite a feat on a newspaper budget. Karen Hagenow of the Missouri Botanical Garden set us up with transportation, which turned critically important once the rain came. Certainly the hope for a bright spring day never materialized, and we were forced to use the inside locations, mainly to my dismay.  I believe it is hard to show spring when it is wintry outside, no?

In conclusion, did we accomplish our goal? Well, of course. I enjoy most the photograph with the yellow and red tulips (above) and the full-length with the white magnolia flowers (top, left). Curiously, it was raining during both sittings, and it was an interesting sight watching Max cover the lighting gear with a small umbrella.  Although, as I mentioned before, some (more) sun certainly would have entertained our shoot much more than the rain. Alas, as a photojournalist, adaptability is key,  especially when time and conditions are working against you.

At the end of our summer LUXE fashion book shoot and with a half-day left on our model’s paid time, my  editor tasked me with the Fall fashion preview. We only had a few hours to illustrate six completely different outfits. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you crimp and curl and do makeup touch-ups things slow down considerably. We decided to keep the shoot in-house, and I chose the frighteningly old freight elevator at the Post. My theme was being “stuck in the elevator.” The grimy, dirty, smelly (yes, it kind of smells like solvents and wet newsprint) freight elevator has been on my a-list of places to shoot since interning at the paper eight years ago. Plus, that would afford several looks like fearful, broken-down model tired, angry, relieved, stuffy; basically a good spectrum of feelings one may experience in a broken elevator. I would also say it was a little luck when our model said she was scared after getting stuck in an elevator on the morning of our shoot. Perfect!

Welcome to hell. No, really, it’s on the wall. Check it out on the upper right corner. Oh, and it made the paper – by permission of course. I didn’t write it, thankfully. Some nameless soul who works midnights in the sub-sub basement must have. It’s a nice touch.

I had the fortune of using Canon’s 1Ds Mark III camera, a 21-megapixel gargantuan that churns out frames with some of the sharpest and smoothest tonality that I’ve ever seen. However, don’t be fooled by the 1Ds’ behavior – using it in the LUXE shoot with non L-series glass produced some of the worst results with sharpness and detail that we’ve ever seen. The frames lacked a clear focus point and detail in specular highlights and fine detail were essentially non-existent. So, be warned. There are also other autofocus issues with the camera and it’s brother ID Mark III that can be found here. Aside from that (I used a 24-70 2.8L for this shoot), the camera performed flawlessly using a AlienBees ABR-800 Ringflash and some creative reflective materials. I know, I know…what am I thinking? Another shoot with a ringflash? Well, yes, but how can you turn down a ringflash opportunity with reflective walls, amazing textures, and an overall killer venue? Yeah, that’s right, you can’t.

One of the nice things about the 1Ds is the raw file. The majority of the toning was done in Canon’s Digital Photo Professional by cranking the contrast, desaturating the colors, click-white balancing, and exporting to a huge 100mb TIF file with the toning malleability of Play-Doh. I used the highlight/shadow tool in Photoshop to eek out some of the blacks and curves to coerce detail out of the details in the clothes.

For some reason this outfit (above) was the hardest to work with. Maybe it’s the skirt of the ruffles, I’m not entirely sure. But it looks decent with a nerve-wracking balance beam act that our model has going on. It was miracle we didn’t lose any fingers.

Will I survive? Will them come rescue me? Sure they will, after we wrap up by 4 pm. Now let’s do broken-down tired. Nice, that looks good. Keep it up.

This last image, fittingly a look of saving grace, worked out perfectly when I slowed the shutter and decreased the ringflash output while letting the elevator take us to the top floor. There is a hair of motion blur and camera shake (the elevator was moving, and it’s one of those hugely clunky ones that jolt you back and forth), and I think (emphasis on think) it works. Hooray, we’re saved. Life goes on.

The piece ran several pages in our LifeStyle magazine and has an online component here. And don’t forget, do not board. Oh, and black and greys are in this season.