Street photography meets a shoot with a model? I broke out my minimalist gear box and met a model downtown LA for an experimental shoot. Sophia is actually a fashion designer in LA but sometimes models on the side; she was up to whatever I wanted to do.
I had the idea of shooting Sophia inside of a tunnel with cars going by
I let the images unfold technique and the thought process...
Above: A firetruck rushes by and I think I had the camera on the tripod with a 1.5 second exposure. I asked Sophia to turn her head from one side to the other.
Getting a feel for the tunnel I take some shots with a 50mm lens and experiment with shutter time. If the exposure is too long you may not be able to see the model...it would be come too abstract.
An old Mexican bar called LA Cita was our meeting point. I wanted to shoot inside but I made the mistake of asking the manager if it was okay and he said it wasn't his call. Better to just do it and kicked out later.
The long exposure that's a fine line between too abstract and not abstract. But the colors and contrast make it work for some reason.
Checking out the 3rd Street tunnel for possibilities before the model showed up. My new photographer friend, Luigi, fires off some shots as well.
I love this shot but it was too overexposed and got a little funky. When an image is too overexposed you lose information in the highlights.
Textures inside the tunnel make for great backdrops that feel modern and classic.
Shot of downtown LA about an hour before the shoot.
I used a softbox for this shot. The street lamps put off a funky color so I used olive and yellow gel on top of the flash.
Image edited for print