Miss & Ursus
(Backstage is mostly in the links so don't forget to click)
the "small" backpack i had for that afternoon
This sunday i had the chance to shoot some of the Runner Ups of Miss Trieste, aboard a huge historical crane called Ursus. It was a contest, The Beauty and the Beast, organized by Triestin photographer Claudio Micali.
The hot hard sun (started 4pm, expected end at 8pm) prevented me from shooting outside with flashes and stuff (here's me annoying Alessandro Pangherz with some light test)... and since i'm not that natural-light guy and was already feeling awkward from being the youngest and the least active photographer in the melee ( 30 photographers, 7 models, no rules), i decided to go down in the engine room and search for some spots to light (i think i've lost some liters of body water, it was around 40°c inside the steel monster).
First i noticed the stairs... The whole industrial feeling the room had called for some hard light (ok, i'll admit i had no stands nor umbrellas but i could have the light bouncing for some softness if needed). Single speedlight camera left, fixed with rubber chord (something like those ball-chords they sell for strobists but longer, belongs to sailing world and we call them "spiders") on a 50cm pipe.
I asked the captain of the crane for a test shot, he was more upset than me :-)
Then Larissa came for the real deal, here's what we've done
After that i went for the crane control panel but i spent almost 30 minutes trying to light it without succeding.. shooting without knowing in advance the location sure sucks.. in the meanwhile some other photographer went in for some close ups . It took me half an hour to realize i was loosing body mass through sweat without shooting anything good so i went back on the stairs setting up a simple two 45° side light scheme
(uff.. fresh air.. let's find some suitable model)
Alessia agreed to spend some time in the oven and we had quite some fun doing the shoot, indeed a quick one because of the hoooot temperature (notice the sweat in the last shot, poor girl).
Fresh air! The sun was a little softer (5:30pm maybe?) and i scouted around for some pretty shady corner to fill with a flash. It happened in front of my eyes this small, white'n'rusty passage with sea view.. The official models were all taken for some group shot by Claudio (Hey! Thief!!) so i asked Nicole to help me out. She seemed to enjoy the shoot and i'm pretty happy with the outcome (fill flash for nikki, 540ez).
I had the chance to exploit the location with Larissa (i love the red hair!) for two quick pictures before leaving.
Oh yeah, i was waiting for 7pm to shoot but all the other 29 photographers decided to call it a day at 6pm so i didn't have the chance to do the shoots i was planning for. Too bad but i'm still very happy of what i've done!
[17:51]
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