alice ~ comfort zone breached

Every photographer should be in front of the camera at least once.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!  Alice is a fellow photographer and like most of us is more comfortable behind the camera.  She was always telling me that she isn’t photogenic and I was determined to prove her wrong.   I’m sure you will all agree that I succeeded.

I got in touch with my friend and awesome makeup artist, Mariel, and set a date and location.  We finally headed out to Rainbow Basin.  Alice had never been there and since Alice is a true photographer she brought her camera along.  Yes, I allowed a Nikon into my car.

As soon as we turned onto the scenic trail we saw a Desert Tortoise lounging on the side of the road.  We immediately stopped, quietly so as not to scare him, and Alice quickly took some pictures.  I will no longer keep my camera in the very back of my Expedition on a photo shoot.

Image by Alice Adler Photography

Picture op over, we headed to our first location.  It was time for Alice to get into her first outfit.  I was also going to try and get a few shots for her to use as her business profile.  I brought along Katie, a budding photographer, to help out with lighting, a reflector since the winds were too strong for anything else.

Alice found out just what it feels like to not only be in front of the camera but to also receive direction from me.  We laughed a lot and got into some interesting predicaments which will remain with us.  What happens at Rainbow Basin… Well, you know the rest.

She has a beautiful smile.

She should be in front of the camera more often.

I had to get one of her without her camera.  A real beauty.

That location was done and we piled back into my Expedition to find our next spot.  We didn’t have far to go before I found the next location and Alice was once again changing her clothes.  The first spot was to steep so I had her move over about 20 feet.  Still steep but at least she had something to hold on to for balance.

Here she is trying to get her balance since the winds were strong and it was quite a drop.

I love this place and she rocked it!

She had to help keep Katie from flying away with the reflector.

As we were walking back to the vehicle I had her stop for a quick shot in this little walking area.  Imagine my surprise when she lost her balance in heels on this flat part and not when she was up on steep cliff like areas.

Love those shoes!!

As we arrived to the overlook area we were surprised to see several vans and trucks from Cal-Poly.  There were students climbing all over the place and we decided to just work around them.  Alice changed, again, and we grabbed some props and were off on a little walk to find the perfect spot.  We found it and set up while the students pretended to not notice us.  Alice was a trooper and we got some great shots.

So serene.

I would rather not know what she is thinking in this one.

We collected all of our stuff and headed back to where I had parked.  It seemed a lot closer when we were going in the other direction.  We made it back, loaded up and we were off to what we thought was our last location.  Another change took place along with a makeup adjustment so that we could get some shots in this great outfit she had hidden away in her closet.

This was by far my favorite outfit.

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L

There was a student taking a break around the corner and was kind enough to stay there while we shot some images that I promised would not be shared.  You’re wondering about those images aren’t you?  I will say this, they are AWESOME!

Before heading home Alice changed a-g-a-i-n.  This time it was back into her clothes for the day.  We put everything away and we were off.  Well, until I saw this great big burst of color and just had to stop.  I told Alice to grab her camera and pose for just one more.  She graciously cooperated or she could have just been humoring me, whatever, she got back in front of the camera.  With bees buzzing around her she smiled a few more times for me.

Bees were everywhere but somehow managed to stay out of the picture.

Thanks again to Mariel and Katie for their help on a crazy windy day.  A huge thanks goes out to Alice for giving in and accepting the daunting task of being the center of attention for a few hours.  You rock!  I can’t say it enough, everyone deserves to be spoiled and made to feel beautiful and special.

If you would like to see more images from the session, head over to my Facebook page and click “like”.