Beginning to Establish My Style
As I started establishing my name as a photographer, I wanted to start creating a style that was uniquely me. I had seen that a lot of photographers I follow have a wide range of subjects, but each had their own identifying style. I wanted to start branching out to find that style, and to do that, I had to play out some "dream shoots." The first was a classic, the Lady in Red.
The Idea
I had simple inspirations for this shoot. The first was the song Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh, the other was a much simpler reason: I am a huge fan of the color red. The Lady in Red Shoot can be seen as a cliché shoot that everyone has done, but for me, it’s a celebration and expression of a very strong and popular color.
The Setting
While I still lived there, I had visited the Tornado Memorial in Lubbock. The memorial was constructed to honor the people that lost their lives during a very bad EF-5 Tornado that had torn through Lubbock in May of 1970. The monument is very elegant with the black Indian granite in a sea of gray and white concrete, with gray carvings notating the events of the storm. The monument had just been opened on the 50th anniversary of the storm, so I saw an opportunity to use it as something unique that a lot of photographers didn't have in their portfolio.
Photo taken by Umstot Photography - https://umstot.com
The Model
I still didn't have a lot of rapport yet, so I started looking for models that would be a great fit for the shoot. As I was looking, I saw a photo of Breanna, and I followed her, and started looking at her portfolio of work. After a little research, I decided that she was the perfect model for this. Now, time to contact her, I won't lie, I was nervous to reach out, because I was afraid of being rejected, a feeling everyone knows when they start out with something.
I messaged her on instagram, introducing myself, and asked her if she would be interested in a doing a red dress shoot. After a day or so, she responded, and said she would love to do it. I was so excited, because now I had to get ready for this shoot.
Zack Morris
photographer
Breanna Danielle
Model
The Shoot
That Saturday was a wild day, because it was a typically windy day in Lubbock. I say that, a typical windy day in Lubbock is minimum 40 mph, and since the west Texas area is very flat, there is nothing to stop or slow down the wind, so it's always rough to work with. For me, that's not an issue, for Bri, however, the poor thing had a dress that was very long and flowy, so the wind made it exceptionally hard to keep the dress down. Bri was absolutely amazing during this, especially when the wind would blow her dress up. She would just laugh as she tried to get it back down. The way the memorial was designed, it created a corridor effect, so the wind shot through and there were gusts strong enough to knock us over, but as we got used to the environment, we were able to use the wind to our advantage. I caught several shots where the wind blew just right, and the dress had a great cape-like effect, capturing huge amounts of motion and power.
Second Location
Because I loved the location, we went to the Buddy Holly Hall for the second part of the shoot. The shafts of light coming in through the fins were incredibly dramatic that time of the day, and the way the building was oriented, it would create a great wind block for the rest of our shoot. What happened next was a study of dramatic lighting on a subject, as well as creating an intimate set of closeups in a shady foreground, with a strong, bright background.
Post and Publication
Then I headed to my office to begin the developing of the photos. The photos came out incredibly, and I delivered them to Breanna, which she loved. I then started the process of attempting to publish the photos to a magazine. After sending out a few submissions, Edith Glamour accepted my photos and put them in a multi-page editorial in Fashion Issue 178. If that wasn't exciting enough, I received a message from Diane Dick, the owner of the Modeling Agency that represented Breanna and several others I would work with, that she would be using some of my photos in her application card for the International Modeling and Talent Association competition in New York City. I was finally starting to gain some traction as a photographer, and my skill was starting to grow. I have now made the Red Dress shoot one of my Artistic Style Shoots, which will be part of my unique style. You can see the catalog of my Red Shoots here on my website, follow the link below.
