Inland Empire Shooters
This type of photo meet is a lot different than TFTI_LA. The biggest difference is that this is during the day, so using flash can be a lot more complicated for most photographers. You need a very powerful flash to compete with the sun.
Luckily, I had the AD600 which is massively powerful and more than enough for the photos I’d be taking. The only issue is that I don’t have a stand thats sturdy enough to support its massive weight. I also don’t have a softbox that can attach to the flash, so I had to use the bare bulb. On top of that, my friend volunteered to hold the flash for me while I shot.
Alyza decided she was going to take her Polaroid camera and take a few shots as well. Karina said she would take photos with her phone. Stoner just wanted to check out the scene.
We arrived right on time to the park. Parking was a hassle and we had to park pretty far but the excitement was at an all time high and no one cared about the long walk.
Everyone was gathered and Dovvy took out his speaker and directed us to the back side of the park. You can go into the water canal through the park. I had no idea this was even legal but it is. It was a really cool scene.
After the short 5 minute walk across the park and down into the bridge, we began to shoot. There were so many models that it was easy to find good angles and shots. We had about 2 hours of light at the most, so there was plenty of time for everyone to take the photos they wanted.
Alyza chose to take just 4 photos. I couldn't get enough and took photos of almost everyone. With the exception of the fire breathers and the bicyclist, my flash came through in illumination everyone I pointed my camera at.
I took so many photos that when I got down to edit them, I couldn’t decide on what style to go with. I ended up editing in so many different styles that there was no cohesion to the set. But I guess that is a good problem to have for a shoot like this. It really allowed me to experiment with editing a lot more than usual.
By far the most popular model was Avocado. I’m not really sure what her name is but she was a new model who was eager to work with everyone. She was great and was game for all types of pictures with everyone.
As the sun began to set and the shade enveloped everyone, I decided it was time to head home. It was getting a bit cold and no one brought sweaters. After a few shots of me and Alyza, we walked back to the car.
McDonalds was how we ended the night.
