Best friends make good models and assistants.

I really wanted to get back into the groove of shooting some portraiture again for my portfolio. So I looked around at what I already had, and I noticed a pattern:  at least half of my portfolio work is of my friends. Shoot what you know right? I guess I've been taking that literally this whole time!

Now cue in Rachel. Rachel and I have known each other since middle school, and have been best friends since. She is one of the only people I know who totally understands my weirdness, and her and I act like total goons 80% of the time we're around each other. For real; I could write an entire book on our inside jokes. I was thinking about the fact that I didn't have any portfolio quality images of her, and why not solve that problem? So we planned to do a quick shoot on Saturday afternoon.

When I think of Rachel, I think of someone who is easygoing, someone who is always laughing and smiling, and someone with an incredibly heartwarming personality. She's grown up surrounded by big, expansive land, horses, and county music. She's not afraid to get outside and get dirty. I wanted to shoot photos of her that portrayed her sweetness with a natural feel. Since it's winter, I decided to incorporate the snow in some shots, which was fun! For lighting, I wanted to use what was available for ambient light, and on Saturday afternoon when we shot, the light was nice and soft. I had our friend Maggie with us to hold a reflector and a diffuser for a few shots to modify the sunlight we were working with.

We shot for about 45 minutes, until I couldn't feel my hands anymore and I had a fairly chilled model and assistant. Rachel and Maggie were both troopers and did whatever I needed them to to make shots work! We laughed and joked around the whole time and had fun, despite the weather. The time we all get together is invaluable anymore, with all of us at different schools and leading different lives!

Here are some of the other final shots:

For a 45 minute shoot, I'm happy with the results! I'm ready to get back into shooting more portraits again; admittedly, I felt a little rusty this weekend. However, no more weather excuses for this girl. The time is here and now, and I'm ready to start pushing myself!