Lost in the forest with Shak and Lakeisha - a photographic series with a penchant for the dramatic (20+ images within!)

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I don't photograph human beings nearly as much as I would like to. Perhaps one day it will be a full time endeavour of mine, but for the time being, its a way to express myself creatively and interact with others while educating them about the mind-numbingly complex dance of photons that enable photography.

One day I'll write a whole bunch of stuff about that, maybe even making a video. Today is not that day. Today is the day that I will be sharing recent work I created with Shak and Lakeisha in the Southern part of South Australia in early November, 2021.

Thanks to @mattclarke who came along to help haul around lights, location scout, and hold lights up to help produce this collection of images. He's set as a 5% beneficiary of this post for his assistance on the day.

The below images are not shot in sequence, but re-order the day's shoot into a narrative thread. Keen to see what people read from this tale.

Let the journey commence...

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This series may work well as a photobook of the day's shoot, in the order presented above, explored at one's own pace.
For those that don't know of my love affair with photography - this is something that I studied at university. I have a Masters Degree in Visual Art and Design, and while I majored in "New Media" (which was basically computer-art) - photography (and the manipulation of it) played a key part in my practice.

These days, I am more of a tragic, trying to throw back art work to the days of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who imbued narrative into their photography, while also combining an element of Edgar Allan Poe's words full of dread.

I like to depict the "damsel", as a reminder that everything on this planet is held together with the most fragile of balances. By allowing people to witness this, frozen in time, I can share a story and a portion of the way with which I see the world, in the words of Walter Benjamin, talking about a Klee painting:

His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.

These images were all shot using a Nikon Z6. While I have a variety of lenses at my disposal, this shoot only used three lenses.

  • Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8
  • Nikon Z 85mm f/1.8
  • Nikon Z 24-70 f/2.8

The 35 mm lens is quickly becoming my favourite lens for completing portrait work. It's got a good working distance, enables you to capture head and shoulders shots at a somewhat comfortable working distance (owing to its ability to focus fairly close to the lens surface) - and it is very portable.

Images were lit using a variety of Godox products, with a hodge-podge collection of light modifiers.

  • 2x Godox AD200
  • 1x Godox TT685N
  • 1x Godox Umbrella Beauty Dish with Grid
  • 1x Neweer Shoot through Umbrella


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17 comments
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(Edited)

Did you have a story in mind when you started shooting or did it happen after you started sorting through the photos? :D

It would work pretty well as a photobook.

Have you done galleries before? I feel like I may have asked you this previously but I can't remember x_x

ps yay for friends who come and help lug equipment around XD

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Lovely photoshoot! I must admit that I was curiously looking at that pair of transparent socks one of the girls had lol. The things women look at 🤣

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They were quite the oddity! I'd never seen such socks before. What amazed me is how clean they stayed throughout the shoot, we did a fair bit of walking around the forest from spot to spot as we explored.

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They look like stockings, it was probably because of that? They looked cool anyway

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Possibly! I'm by no means a fashionista myself, so I normally just wear nothing but black

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These shots turned out very well with most excellent quality. I could see many stories within the drama of the framing and compositions. Very interesting makeup and poses. Awesome job and thanks for sharing! =)

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Thank you! :)

This definitely wasn't a conventional photoshoot with the goal of looking pretty. I like that I've captured discomfort, and that... looking at some of these images is not comfortable.

It makes people think and impose their own narrative and interpretation onto the work.

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Yes, precisely. Each image seems to be or have a story of it's own.. and this was a more creative approach than just glamour or beauty shots. Although, both models along with the environment and photography technique have an intrinsic beauty. There is definitely more going on under the surface for sure.

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(Edited)

You are truly talented man, I like every single one of the pictures. There's no doubt in my mind that if you would decide to pursue photography as your profession you would be successful.

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Thanks mate! I will do that one day!

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Great work of the photographer! Models were not able to show the drama of the situation everywhere (this is just my opinion), but in general, they are also very good.

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The most valuable person was @mattclarke for holding the lights the way I told him to

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(Edited)

very catchy and appealing. intresting models, but more important -- intresting captures.
thanx for using #creativecoin tag

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Thank you, and no problem, I've been using the tag since its inception, pretty much! :D

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Back to the 70's vibe... lovely! :)

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