Saniah twirls flags with the color guard for her marching band and the winterguard, so she competes all year round. This means she is used to performing under pressure, which was good because her session was a rollercoaster of excitement alternating with panic.
The forecast showed only a 10-15 percent chance of rain up until an hour before the session, when the wind started blowing, and the rain probability suddenly jumped to 65% during the hour of her session. But the clouds blew over before too long, and we decided to forge ahead.
The next setback was that one of my camera flashes fell out when I unzipped my bag. The bag was on the ground, so there would have been little impact for the flash hitting the ground. As it happened, the flash tumbled straight into a four-inch diameter drainage hole filled with rainwater and was instantly submerged. I wouldn’t have been able to hit that target if I was trying. When I pulled it out, there was an obviously visible water level behind the LCD screen that warned me it would be foolish to even try to turn it on. Fortunately, I was carrying two flashes, so we weren’t quite at the mercy of the rapidly approaching darkness.
Due to the rainclouds moving in and out, this was the best sunset I’ve had for a session in a year. Saniah’s mom valiantly held my remaining flash to light Saniah while keeping the color in the sunset. Because my softbox was made for the other flash, we did most of the pictures with bare off-camera flash. Luckily, Saniah’s elegant bone structure and regal beauty held up well under the hard lighting. For the close ups, Saniah’s mom held the flash in the opening of the softbox, even though I couldn’t clamp it in for her.
Both Saniah and her mom performed like pros, given the curveballs in the session. I’m looking to seeing her perform in her senior year ahead!
Leave A Comment