Having posted my favourite beach shots recently, I discovered a whole bunch of outdoor shots from Gran Canaria that were shot in other locations, so I wanted to share a few with you. as with the Beach Shots, these are all from 2006-2008, some are among the first shots I ever took.
This is one of my all-time favourites. It was actually taken in my garden, with natural light, up against the wall. It’s another one of those shots that everyone wanted to copy but struggled to get into a similar position. Abigail’s very bendy. The difficult thing is not so much getting your body into that position, but managing any kind of decent expression while you’re so uncomfortable. Pretty much everyone else who tried it got the pose close enough but could only grimace while doing it (& there was one notable case of someone who’d over-oiled herself & kept sliding off the wall…)
This shot was taken in a local avocado orchard. It was also used for paintball, so occasionally paintballers would run by & get somewhat distracted. The light coming through the trees could be tricky to work with, but there’d be some beautiful shaded areas.Model:Rachel Cole | |
This shot of Sophia Smith was taken in the same forest. She’s sitting on what looks like a giant cotton reel, & is a similar thing used for cabling. | |
This is another great example of beautiful natural shade. It was taken in a tunnel under a road (in Gran Canaria, when it rains, it really rains, so these tunnels are for the rainwater to avoid flooding roads). I just moved her far enough back so that the light is fairly even across the body.
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This image of Rachel Cole was taken on some rocks at the base of a cliff between Puerto Rico & Amadores. There’s a fairly hairy staircase to negotiate to get down there, but it’s well worth the trip. | |
This shot of Ruth Reynolds was taken just by the last one, but facing the cliff, rather than the sea. As with previous photos, the light is fabulously soft in the shade. |
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This shot of Tino Leonard was taken on the walkway to Amadores Beach. I wasn’t planning to shoot there, but the colour of the sky against the palm trees was too good to miss. | |
It’s always good to make use of shapes when you find them, & putting someone in this circle always worked well, providing the model could fit inside it! | |
Continuing with the circles theme, this is at the first viewpoint on the mountain road from Playa del Ingles. I like the way Melvina curved her arm to match the circle. I needed to use some fill-in flash to prevent the mountains behind from being too bright. | |
Shot taken in a similar place to the last one. We made use of a cloudy day to get this; during the day the sun’s too harsh to get a decent shot of the background, & at sunrise or sunset, when the light would be great, I was always at the beach. |
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There are ruined shacks pretty much everywhere in Gran Canaria, with limitless opportunities for shooting. Here I made use of the shade from the building to bathe the model in soft light, with the setting sun in the background. Shooting this just before the sun went down gave us time to get to the beach for the sunset itself. | |
I included this shot mostly as we shot it at Sioux City in the afternoon, when it was full of tourists. They’d mostly gone to watch the show, so I asked the nearest worker if he’d mind if Chantelle got naked, & he said we were fine as long as we finished before the show ended & all the tourists came back out. It all added a bit of excitement to the shoot! | |
Lovely colours in this shot on the island at Anfi Beach. Note the cunning use of leopard print by the model to give the impression she’s in the jungle. | |
This shot of Abigail works for me as the lines of the bars lead the eye to the model. Shooting from below made her legs longer & the sky adds an impressive background. |
More outdoor shots on my website here
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