We started at a plant nursery that we found off from highway 72 in Traverse City. It was closed for the day so it gave us the perfect opportunity to shoot without worrying about spectators. I had Amy sit near some plants that matched the pattern in her dress and I place the flowers all around her for effect.

Amy’s eyes are naturally blue. I asked if she wore contacts and she said she did but that they were clear and added no color. This photo was taken out on the Old Mission Peninsula. It was incredibly windy and I had a difficult time setting up the lighting. I positioned the softbox to Amy’s side pointing away from the wind to keep it from blowing over. We also had to hurry. We got to the location just as the sun was setting on the horizon. You can see from Amy’s hair that the wind was blowing pretty hard. She had a difficult time keeping her hair tame and out of her face.

The sun is almost gone but it still gave me enough of a kick to make the shot.

Here you can see the effect of putting the lighting with the softbox off to the side. I like the effect that it creates in that position. Sometimes what seems like a challenge is actually an opportunity.

This series of photos represents the main reason we did the shoot. I wanted to try lighting at night with the bokeh in the background. Amy and I had fun on our photo adventure. The photos were coming out so nice it was difficult to stop shooting.

All photos ©2010 Todd L Church

The shoot started at 3:00pm. Ten minutes before Leslie arrived the snow began to fall. It came down so hard you couldn’t see across the lake. Leslie, being the adventurous sort, agreed to go on the shoot anyway. We ventured out on the ice but most of the shanties were empty. I think we got some interesting shots regardless of the snow.

Wandering out on the lake proved to be very cold. We decided after a while to move into the Interlochen Center for the Arts to see if we could get some interesting shots there. We were also met by my assistant Jessica Lynn Nichole who came along to help with lighting.

Our first stop was the Interlochen bowl, a nice location for the shoot. Leslie’s red top was an excellent selection for a winter shoot.

After a a while we decided to come in and warm up. I live near the arts camp so we came to my house and set up a backdrop so that we could continue the shoot in comfort. I also had Leslie change and gave her a cowboy hat to try on.

Sometimes the day doesn’t go as planned when shooting on-location but I think we made the best of it.