I’m sooo over this cold! If you are here on the north east coast, you know what I mean: there is just no amount of hot chocolate, warm fires, whiskey, good sex (hehe, yes you heard me right) that makes this ok now. I’m done.
So in that spirit, I wanted to say ‘screw you’ to the weather a couple of weeks ago and do an outdoor photo shoot with some dancers. Brave? Yes. But not on my part, on theirs. I think the idea of shooting in the snow is very inciting when you get together with a bunch of devoted people who will do anything for their art. Then when the reality of actually doing it sets in 2 seconds after they fling their coats off and go bounding through the snow.. well the reality is really something else!
I put out an open call on Facebook and invited anyone who wanted to shoot to meet at Central Park from 1pm – 2pm. We had about 20 people sign up and about 12 show up (what I expected, it’s hard to leave your snug and cozy bed on a snow day!).
Now guys, I’m from Canada, we know snow. I prepared the dancers by letting them know that we needed ideas to work with that fully formed from the beginning; when the clothes come off not only do you have just about 2 minutes before your muscles start to shut down but your brain stops thinking because it can mostly only cope with the temperature. I also knew from my perspective that using all natural light (I usually augment with strobes outside to create the look I want) was going to allow us to work more quickly, so we (my #1 assistant Anna and I) were traveling light and fast.
Even having everyone prepped ahead of time, there were definitely some gasps and some fun but frozen looks on their faces. Crowds gathered. Reporters annoyed.. but overall I think a fun and freezing time was had by all.
And here is what we did!
Big thanks to all of the dancers who came out in the cold. Let them tell you what the experience was like…
Such a magical day! I was able to let my daredevil play in a winter wonderland in Central Park NYC in booty shorts! Ha! Carpe Diem! Many thanks Rachel! – Miki Michelle
I only get naked in the snow for one lady….and she’s married with kids lol. – Brian Jones
The fastest photo shoot I’ve ever done. Hit it and quit it! – Emiko FlanaganIt’s really hard to jump in the snow! I have a new respect for Siberian Huskies. – Billy Blanken
Thanks bunches, Rachel. – Kat WildishThank you Rachel and everyone who was there for this special NYC memory! It was great to see how awesome everyone looked in their photos in spite of the cold. – Nicole Fedorov
I don’t remember the last time I was so cold but I can’t think of a better way to have spent the snow day or better people to have spent it with! – Daniel Salas
Thanks Rachel for this freezing and wonderful experience. I had lot of fun! – Luz Marie Iturbe Oritz
Tagged: new york, photo shoot, photography
