Sometimes nothing is better for the spirit than a little bit of just plain goofing around. The perfect opportunity for some ~~screwing off~~ "play" came recently while shooting with Daniel Lee Martin and Julie McQueen, co-hosts of Brotherhood Outdoors, outside of Nashville. It's always a pleasure shooting with them and I know we can get to exactly what they need in pretty quick order because of their professionalism, creative thinking, and willingness to try something a bit out of the ordinary. So after a little bit of work, we started coming up with some ideas for some unique photos. One photo that I always liked was the cover of the European Vacation video cover. So with a ~~little~~ lot of inspiration from the original, we came up with a somewhat more pedestrian and outdoor take. Although it might need a bit more refinement to be actually used for something, I believe there is a bunch of potential in it. I kept the lighting as simple as possible using a single Elinchrom in an Octabank, and a rflector low and opposite to kick a bit of light back up in the faces. A second Elinchrom with a narrow reflector was placed well below their feet, thanks to a draw, and fired straight back at them for a bunch of rim lighting. If nothing else, it felt good to shoot just for the heck of it. The second shot we did for no particular reason was another take on the American Gothic image. The devilishy playful look on Julie's face is what makes the photo for me.

The shot immediately below is a favorite of mine from a shoot with them a year or so ago. Again, it's another shot done for no real reason but turned out to be one of my all time favorites.