Bridal Photoshoot with Ayumi Inagaki
Weeks before the start of the shoot, I was very troubled because the initial request was to do both a mermaid and bridal shoot on the same morning.
From past experience, I knew a bridal shoot alone would take up a lot of time from makeup and hairstyling to the actual shoot; unless I was shooting with a professional model, I could likely shorten the duration of the shoot and still be able to get many good photographs. Although we did have the luxury of having two HMUAs working on the face and hair of Ayumi at the same time, there was still a limitation.
Whereas, for the mermaid shoot, the model would get wet and require time to clean herself up. The logistics part was a huge problem. Even if I was lucky enough to get to start the first shoot right after sunrise, by the time we started doing makeup on the second theme, it would be in the mid-morning and at the mercy of the sun. I could do long hours of the shoot but not at the expense of the quality of my work.
To my relief, I was eventually told that we would only need to work on the mermaid shoot.
I couldn't doze off due to my bad habit of sleeping late, especially when I was quite troubled over the equipment to bring over for the shoot. I was expecting to go to the beach and the uneven ground wouldn't allow me to set up my equipment properly. Thus, I had to make a plan for it.
The first bad news was that Ayumi was too petite and thus the mermaid set couldn't fit her well. At least, she was able to fit into one of the bridal gowns inside the studio and thus we could proceed with the shoot after organising for so long.
The proudest thing that morning was that I was able to make it to the nearest Macdonald's in time to get the first number in the queue. This worthless achievement was something that could keep a sleepless guy entertained while waiting for the makeup to be done. I wasn't a fan of its breakfast though but at least it helped to fill everyone's stomach without having to waste money and time waiting for delivery.
We took a Grabcar over to the new shooting venue. By the time I took my first test shot after setting up a simple one-light system, it was already nearly 9am. It was one of the unluckiest days I had experienced because it was an open sky where the sun shone furiously at us. It was so bad that even my 600-watt strobe was no match for it, partly because my softbox was too big, which exhausted the power.
I could have done the shoot using just the natural (harsh) light but the styling for Ayumi was something sweet and thus I didn't want it to be an edgy shoot where harsh shadows would appear on her face. Moreover, I didn't want Ayumi's makeup to melt halfway through the shoot.
I had my fair share of bad luck due to the weather throughout my years of shooting, however, the purpose of shooting at the location was to capture the beautiful blooming flowers as the backdrop. Hence, the purpose of shooting at the location was defeated.
Having not been able to meet the objective wasn't the worst thing, since I would usually play it by my ears. To rub salt onto the wound, there wasn't any "tall" building around to hide from the direct sun, except for a few huts and many trees.
There were a few times when some thin layers of clouds covered the sun to my delight; however, they lasted only for a couple of minutes. We were able to grab some shots though.
I left the girls in one of the hubs while I walked quite a distance away to look for better spots but nothing satisfied me. I led them over eventually. The weight of the bulky equipment exhausted my hands' strength a lot.
I tried to get Ayumi to lean on a tree with a big trunk near the sea but there were ants around. Finally, I decided not to waste any more time and thus we had a quick shoot among the trees. Occasionally, when the wind blew to shake the branches of the trees, we were still hit by the sun.
It was an extremely harsh morning and I was glad we were able to provide some good work with this pretty Japanese lady.
Featuring ↬ Ayumi InagakiHairstylist ↬ NicoleMakeup Artist (MUA) ↬ Alicia Lim
Wardrobe ↬ NicoleCredits ↬ The Muses
Camera ↬ Canon 6DLens ↬ Canon 24-70mm F2.8L IILighting ↬ Godox AD600BM
Place ↬ East Coast Park (ECP)Date ↬ Year 2019
Photo Editing type ↬ Advanced
💲 Photographer's fee ↬ Prices & packages for Bridal photography
Check out the details on how I craft my portfolio pages and the disclaimer on the write-ups.
Follow my Instagram & Facebook to get more updates.
Portrait photography > All albums > All Bridal albums
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter