Behind the Scenes

It's always fun to put together a series of images from a session and think about how the image was put together.

Of course I love the outcome, but many times the initial concept is not what ends up as the final product.

That is the beauty of it.
I love - the unexpected.

It's the interaction with my subjects, the people assisting, or even the "live" props that make up the experience of a shoot.

The "live" props in this series is the horse.

Initially the horse was to be loose and grazing peacefully next to the model.

Well.... in our first try with this idea, our "prop" or horse (aka Neo) was released from his lead and halter only to decide the "set" for this shoot was now his personal race track!
Yes, it had obstacles, like trees and stumps, but it didn't stop him from seeing how fast he could run around the perimeter - dodging the trees and people in his path!

Take 2 - in comes the "understudy", (aka Swimmer).

Not my first choice, but reliable.
Unfortunately, Swimmer was happy to graze peacefully, but not anywhere near the subject or camera.
Which leads us to our next prop -
"a halter and lead rope"!

I also chuckle when I think about my "assistants" helping to get the horse's attention by throwing things into the air, only to have the objects land on their heads!
 Ouch!

Our final prop was an apple.
My idea was to show the whole apple, but when it was brought out for the picture, someone had sliced it into several bit size pieces for the horse!
The model did a great job trying to hold the pieces together to make it look whole again (and struggling to keep it from the horse's mouth before I got the shot)

Yes, there is quite a lot going on "behind the scenes".

I enjoy the stories that are created in the making of an image, and the stories that are formed by person's imagination when viewing it.

Wonderful job Ariel - Thank you!

Stay tuned for more Ariel and Neo in my next post!