Last weekend, my good friends Kim and Randy invited a few of their photography friends up to their farm in Manning for a cookout and a night of shooting the Milky Way.
Always looking for an excuse to combine my profession with my passion for motorcycle adventures, I elected to ride my Honda CB500X and camp there for the night.
The ride up there was absolutely beautiful. But nearing night-fall, the skies opened up and we were trapped in the barn under a deluge of POURING rain! As we waited with crossed fingers for the dark clouds to pass, I explored the barn, admiring all the old equipment and aging tools.
Some of the guests had brought their spouses and kids. Not wanting to waste time, or waste these awesome backdrops, I asked if anyone wanted to pose for an impromptu modeling session! Luckily I had pulled my bike into the barn, giving me access to all my gear.
Tori and some of the other kids had been running around in the rain, because that’s what you do for entertainment on a farm when you’re a teenager and have nothing else to do! 🙂 She had done some modeling when she was younger, and was delighted to be our muse. I placed a Nikon SB-5000 behind her with a full CTO gel and the diffusion dome in place. It was hanging from a dangling piece of equipment, aimed directly at her back. With the WR-R10 transmitter attached to my Nikon D850, I selected a power output of 1/16. The camera was set to ISO 1000, f2.8, and 1/40th of a second. Mounted on my tripod to prevent camera shake, the slow shutter speed and high ISO was selected to allow the dingy overhead sodium-vapor unit to be my main light. The flash acted as a dramatic background/rim light, making her “pop” off the backdrop. One click confirmed my settings and we were off to the races, waltzing through a variety of poses. Many thanks to Kim for snapping the photo of my excited response when I confirmed that the settings were spot on!
Eventually the rain dissipated and we all headed back out to the lake to set up for a fun evening of night-photography. I headed home the following day…but not before grabbing a drone shot of my AWESOME camp site! Thanks for a great weekend, Kim & Randy!!!
