MATT TIMMONS BLOG

So we took a trip down to White Sands to do some shooting with two different purposes.  One was some swimwear and the other some jewelry ads.  It was an early call time at 6:30 a.m. and we were on the road.  I love location road trips, even though they are a lot of work.  But as the saying goes, a bad day on location is better than the best day at the office.  We pretty much took everything, and other than a few issues with the sunlight going in and out of the clouds making keeping up with the exposure settings really tricky, it was good fun.  We had food in the production tent, but by the end of the day the crew was starving.  We made our way over to the local Chili’s and tore it up.  It’s about 7 hours round trip from Albuquerque, and we got back in around midnight, a 19-hour day for us (well the girls at least got to sleep the whole trip).  I recommend getting down there if you can, but bring some sunglasses and some sunscreen because you can’t even see it’s so bright on that sand without eyewear.  Definitely a repeat next spring.

Well, ok- it’s not exactly the tropics, but it was a nice spot and you won’t be able to tell in the final shots.  The weather was slightly chilly and very breezy- not the best combination for putting a model in water.  Brrrr!  Today we were being hit from all directions with pitfalls- some were overcome, some weren’t.  But if you don’t get out and try, then what does that say for your experience?  Hand-carrying 300 pounds of gear a 1/4 mile along a hiking trail to a waterfall did suck, but it’s all part of the process that is complicated location photography.  Sure, we could go up there with a camera and a small flash, but it wouldn’t look like the image I had in my head when it was done.  The gear is just to meet the needs of the creative idea, not because it’s fun to break people’s backs.  I’m glad to have some good help today, and what counts is having a common interest in creating unique ideas, putting them on paper (or web) and getting out and enjoying the day in the outdoors.  Experimentation is the mother of all invention.