The Setup
This photoshoot was amazing in that it was supposed to be an entirely different idea. That day, we were planning on meeting and doing the shoot in an alley in an older, historic part of town. That day, the weather had decided to change from an overcast, slightly sunny day, to pouring down rain. I met up with Mackenzie, and we decided to relocate to a parking garage, so we could proceed with the shoot. When we got to the garage, I had to change the look and feel of the shoot on the fly, especially since the lighting was now drastically different. What happened was by far one of my favorite shoots I have ever done.
The Team
Zack Morris
photographer
@zmorrisphoto
Mackenzie Brattain
model
@mackenziebrattain
The Shoot
The motivation for the shoot was going to be a "diamond in the rough" styled shoot. However, when we got to the garage, after a few shots, I had the inspiration come to me. The story that came to me was a girl who went to prom without a date, but got the boy of her dreams. Mackenzie's dress and shoes were perfect for giving the feel of a young lady going to prom, so we ran with it. While it poured down rain outside the garage, the lighting of the garage and the soft overcast lighting of the clouds created this dreamy feel that you see in the photos, so we leaned into it, and we both loved the look. It wasn't until we got into the elevator to go up to the top level that the best shots were taken.
Enter the Elevator
After a few shots in the garage, we decided to go to the top level to get shots of Mackenzie running through the rain. So we didn't have to huff it up 3 levels of stairs, we took the elevator, here is when the shoot got magical. The brushed silver finish of the elevator with the strong yellow lighting with the overcast day made the shots absolutely incredible. I did almost no changes to the lighting of the photos (minor tweaks, at most), and that was where the Noir style came in. We played with it, changing angles, positions within the elevator, and the shots were nothing short of incredible.
Going into Post
When I went into post, I wanted to give an older feel to the photos, especially since the theme was going to be called Dreamy Noir. I intentionally added grain to the photos to give more of a film camera feel. The combination of the colors, the model, and the lighting, was just a perfect storm of creativity. That was why this shoot was my absolute favorite shoot of all time. This shoot was a last-minute weather change, that I believe came out significantly better than what my previous idea could have ever achieved.
