510 - The Underground
Today I decided to go old school. And by that I mean I met up with an ex from University.
But it’s not as scandalous as it sounds. Her name is Gauri, and we’ve somehow maintained a friendship for almost 5 years post-breakup. She was my first girlfriend ever, and we dated for almost 4.5 years while getting our degrees. So I figured I’d drop down to Atlanta to catch up, binge drink some coffee, and have a fiery photoshoot.
Oh, and fun fact, she was one of the first people to introduce me to photography. And surprisingly, I actually used to dislike photography when she’d take me shooting. At the time, I wasn’t an artsy person- so acting as my girlfriend’s model felt like the biggest waste of time.
The times have clearly changed.
To start off, she wanted me to take some photos for her upcoming coffee brand. I won’t bore you with those photos- it’s mainly all coffee beans.
The fun part was after the commercial shoot.
During the photo shoot, she’d been selling coffee at a local art fair at The Underground , which was located in downtown Atlanta. The Underground is a hub of art galleries and shops meant to showcase the local art scene. They’re always hosting pop-ups, gallery showings, and music events.
The crazy thing about The Underground is that the whole place looks like an underground train station from hell. Which made me want to go to town on some shadow-induced portraiture.
Since I’ve spent so many years shooting Haley almost exclusively, I figured it’d be a good time to start brushing up on my skills with some new chicks. And since portrait photography was such an intimate experience, I always felt like it'd be weird if I shot other girls purely for fun while we were dating. Now that I’m single, the gates were back open.
I decided to ease into it with a nice silhouette:
As you can see, Gauri’s slugging down some cold brew for the shoot. I’m slowly realizing that adding an action like this to a portrait makes posing significantly easier.
There’s something about movement that helps make a shot seem more candid.
I also very much enjoyed the orange in the flares in the background. Looking for strange light patterns is a great way to find positioning for your shot. Just search for places where the light doubles down or casts hard shadows.
Now that I was warmed up, I decided to dive into the colors a bit more. I knew I had a solid orange wall, so I had to find a blue to make it complementary.
Gauri was wearing a blue dress. How freaking perfect:
Fuck, the colors in that shot hit so hard. The nail polish on her fingers also adds that extra touch of red to make it pop. It’s a wonder they match up so well with the straw.
I’d take credit for that pose, but it wasn’t my idea. Gauri studied studio art in University, so she knew her way around a portrait scene. The whole shoot she kept giving me shit about how much I used to hate this stuff and now I’m the one shooting. Haha…
The next shot I got was my favorite one- I wanted to capture the creepy, ethereal vibe of the place. It was completely empty now that the pop-up was over, so I positioned her under a light and darkened her face using the shadow of her hat. Anonymous vibes:
Loving the minimalism of that shot. Damn. Shooting portraits in low-light areas makes the process so much easier. You just look for the light sources and position around them. Less choices = easier shoots.
And yeah. That’s that shoot. I was fucking wired on coffee the entire time because her coffee partner’s a pro at making cappuccinos. This chick literally judges latte art competitions on the side. I’m not much of a coffee drinker but I couldn’t resist.
Oh! And one more thing I want to note… I know these adventures have been getting few and far between recently, but I promise it’s for a good reason. In the background I’ve been developing a full-fledged photography course, and I plan on releasing it on my website in a few months. It contains literally everything I know about photography. From start to finish. Between that and saving up some money again to travel, it’s all taking up a significant chunk of my time.
I’ll be back on that 3-5 day a week adventure grind once the course is complete… But until then I need to focus in.
Stay tuned… Big shit coming.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
*Please note this page contains affiliate links.
