In mid-September I had the chance to work with Melissa Troutt as she was travelling with fellow model Katlyn Lacoste. The two have worked together quite a bit and it really showed in their images together. We spent a long and fruitful day working in one of my favorite areas in Northeast Tennessee. The weather was perfect and we got an amazing day and many great shots including a few that I’m going to share.
I’ve actually rarely worked with two models at the same time. One of my first nude shoots had a brief overlap where I worked with two models together between working with them alone. My inexperience left the photos lacking and I didn’t attempt the concept again for a number of years until I’d gained more experience working with just one model. In fact the next two attempts both had a bit of a jinx as the first was beset with problems and the second last fall came right before the personal issues that put me off photography for a while and it never got the attention it deserved. In fact I hope soon to go back and process the photos from that shoot again as I know they deserve more attention.
Working with two models is a different experience than working with a single model. In fact the biggest mistake that I think I made during this shoot was being too conservative in working with them. I too often took simple compositions and centered the models in the frame instead of more interesting compositions. It’s a lesson for the next time and a reminder to me to not be as timid when trying new ideas and concepts. There was one place though where I did not take that conservative route and think the resulting image is amazing.
This image was the one I mentioned and that inspired my Post on Learning from Mistakes. As I mentioned there, this image was the result of what initially was a mistake. The image was shot with both Melissa and Katlyn lying on the rocks at a waterfall perhaps thirty feet from me. A few shots before I’d mistakenly hit the trigger while recomposing by zooming in from a wide angle to close shot of them. The result of that try was a mess, but I noticed the warping effect you see here in that image. This was the best of several images that I took experimenting with creating that effect. The dreamlike and almost vertigo like effect to it really appeals to me.
