I used to love the cold. On camping trips I'd be the guy wandering around the site in my shorts and a sweatshirt while everyone else was bundled up with heavy coats and gloves. I guess I'm getting older and since I live in an area that doesn't have severe winters, my blood's thinned a bit. Suffice to say, I'm not a fan of the cold these days.

©2016 Images by Design.  Model: Cassie P. — ©2016 Images by Design. Model: Cassie P.

That hasn't kept me from getting out to shoot this winter. I've hooked up with a few models willing to brave the cold (at least for a few minutes at a time) to try my hand at winter fashion. It's another genre I don't have a lot of experience with, so forgive these images if they seem a little sophomoric. My takeaway so far is that lighting is difficult and Depth of Field (DoF) is paramount to getting the desired look.

I guess shooting so much in studio has spoiled me for having total control of the light. For this golden hour image of Cassie, I wanted mostly front lighting so I didn't lose her face to the shadow of her big parka hood, but off axis enough so her face had some definition. What do you think?

For Tabitha's Session, the first warm day after a rare snowstorm brought fog over the the farmlands, providing this great background to shoot against. I haven't decided if the blue in her jacket is too much for this shot. Part of me wants to mute those colors but I don't want to lose her striking red hair and eye color. I may have to keep working this image selectively to find a pleasant balance.

The fog lifted way too soon and we had to drive around to find the foggy patches in the fields that hadn't been warmed by the sun yet. It made for a fun afternoon of fog chasing, if that's a thing.

We met and worked with Matt for the first time just yesterday. For only modeling about 9 months he needed little direction and knows the poses that fit him well. Carefully adjusting aperture to get the desired DoF allowed me to show an urban setting without detracting from the subject. While I really like this shot, I think another stop smaller aperture would have been better - getting more of the camera in focus and defining the high-rise behind him. If you've been following this blog, you might recognize my old Olympus OM-10 35mm SLR as a prop.

I'm most excited that Denise is willing to come out and be my lighting grip for some of these sessions. She's a real trooper dragging around this lighting rig. The big octabox (Sail) wants to carry her away in even the slightest breeze. Thankfully she's got this heavy strobe body to keep her feet on the ground.

I'll keep plugging away and shooting more of these when I can this winter. I'm enjoying them more than I thought. It just goes to show that if you're willing to try new things you might SURPRISE yourself. Even an old dog like me.

I still want to get out to do more winter wildlife. Raptors are more visible this time of year with the foliage thinned and food scarce. But that requires hanging out in the cold for much longer than my (relatively) willing human subjects. I'll just have to get out there to thicken up my blood.

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Winter Fashion