I wanted to promote my meetup group and my wife and I love cruising, hmm, how about both? I've hosted a photography focused meetup group for several years and wanted to help people learn how to work with international models. So I used Model Mayhem to look for a model in Cabo San Lucas and found Mara. She was very happy to work with us and even though nobody from my Meetup group decided to join us on the cruise, she was still willing to work with me.
After our crusie ship made port, Mara arrive at Mr. Frogs on time as planned and took my daughter and I to a private beach that she knew how to get to. She brought a friend just to be safe and I recommend that for any female model meeting with a male photographer for the very first time. I'm very respectful of models that I work with though I brought my daughter with me as well because I think that its also a good practice to be safe as a photographer.
Mara was very professional, she changed into her swimsuit and asked for my ideas. I'd already shared the shots that I was hoping to capture so we were both ready to work before meeting and the session was very productive.
It was very windy on the beach that day! I used a reflector rather than an off-camera flash, the brightness was overwhelming so the reflector worked just fine to fill the shadows. As you can see, the lighting on Mara is exquisite even though the sun on the white beach sand was very harsh.
This last image, the best I think, was something that Mara had done before. It was the last shot of the day and I asked her if she could duplicate something from her portfolio that I had seen. I think that you'll agree that this is a lovely pose and beautiful woman! I wanted to put the focus on her eyes, I felt the rest of her could speak for itself. But remember how bright it was that day, there was no way that I was going to stop down my lens to get that depth of field that you see in this image. Enter Photoshop. With a layered focus blur, I achieved the effect that I was looking for. Enjoy!
Mara was working on creating an international modeling agency when we met, helping local girls learn modeling and grow in a safe environment. I hope she succeeded and I wish her all the best in the future!
Brighton Photographers Meetup Group: https://www.meetup.com/Brighton-Photographers/