Emma Churchyard - Maldon, Essex
With a spell of warmish weather upon us in April and a new location found between us and another creative, Myself and Emma planned a water shoot.
I hadn’t done much with water in the past for my photos but i was sold on the location when i saw it. We had a rough moodboard and vibe of what we wanted to achieve together and hoped that the day would be favourable to us.
With the sun shining and blue sky above us, we walked to where we knew we could get the shots. I always try and just take a few photos with the model before we get stuck into the theme or the actual objective of the shoot. This is to just get a little relaxed, see how both myself and the model are feeling and dust the cobwebs off without affecting the main shoot.
With it being April, the water was still very cold, but Emma was a trooper and battled past the temperature as much as she could for each set of photos. We utilised a small area of shallow water by the edge to start, with Emma kneeling down to get the body submerged for headshots. These instantly came out great and put us in a really confident mood for the rest of the shoot.
Venturing up the river fractionally, there was a shallow pool where water would filter down from the main river. Fortunately they were a great set of stepping stones that allowed us to get shots from slightly above and use the stones as leading lines in the shots. Something that wasn’t on my radar before the shoot but most certainly welcomed.
On the whole, this was an extremely enjoyable shoot with Emma, as they always are. We always have a laugh and know how each other work etc. Already i have an idea to surpass this shoot, that Emma and i will eventually shoot this summer, so watch out for that set!
Model: Emma Churchyard
Gear: Sony A7iii / Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 / Sigma 50mm 1.4 / Large reflector.
