Doomed shooting day? I think not!

Have you ever had one of those days when you think that everything you try to do, just falls completely apart and breaks to bits, even given your best efforts to fix it or even prevent it, to the point that you think that just having stayed in bed playing with a bowling ball (or anything else unbreakable for that matter), should have been the order of the day and a much more productive one at that?  Well, last Sunday was one of those for me!

You see, I had planned this fashion/glamour outdoor shoot with model Jessa Peters for weeks.  The idea all along was to use Jessa's dramatic poses in simplified and monotone clothing and place her in a setting of run-down, rusted and otherwise filthy abandoned industrial machinery to contrast in colors, lines, patterns as well as to create a sense of surrealism.  In my search for the perfect location, I thought of no better candidate than Galveston, Texas!  After all, the island was practically destroyed just a few months back due to Hurricane Ike.

I had intended on heading down to the Island no later than noon to give us ample time to arrive, setup, finish hair and makeup and get at least 3 clothing changes before having to return back to Houston.  After all, Jessa still did have to drive back to her home in Austin upon completion of our shoot.  Due to a few delays in our morning shoot, we got on the road closer to 1:00 PM, already compacting the shoot by a few dozen photos.   Although I had built a good schedule with a bit of contingency for the shoot during my weeks of preparation, I failed to thoroughly research the road conditions expected for that day.  As a result, we found ourselves in stop-n-go traffic for 2 hours and heading nowhere.  Given that it was almost 3:00 PM, I knew that the Galveston idea was doomed.  In my haste of desperation, humiliation, and complete and utter rage for the construction crews responsible for ruining my plans, I could not reset my brain to think of an alternative solution to my problem; after all, I had just joined the pale and downtrodden!

So, in an effort to avoid further embarrassment, I noted the change of plans, the only one I could muster thanks to the truck's GPS, and announced that we would be heading to Kemah Texas, a tiny suburb by the Ship channel between Houston and Galveston, and only 7 miles from our location at the time.  Having finally escaped from the madness of the road construction, I began to replay locations that could be suitable to shoot at, after all, it had been 10+ years since my last visit and I was sure that it had completely changed.  Although I tried to stay focused in my mental search for locations as I headed down the 7 mile journey, my head just kept regretting having left the studio at all.  After all, it is well equipped with multiple lights and ample outdoor shooting locations, albeit none with the "look" I was searching for.

As I was sure that my mental search was going to get me nowhere, I began to formulate contingency plan "C" that would put us in downtown Houston within 45 minutes and squeeze a 60-minute shoot before Jessa had to depart.  At least I was sure that there I could get a couple of squeezes on the trigger for sure!

To my surprise, and just when I had just finished kicking and punishing myself for having failed me (and Jessa), we arrived into Kemah and noticed that the run-down metal and industrial wasteland I was hoping to get in Galveston, also existed, and perhaps to a greater scale, in Kemah.  Of course! I thought, it makes perfect sense!  The hurricane traveled north nearly in line with I-45 and as Kemah is located on the east side of I-45 it took the direct hit of the strong side of the storm. And although it has been nearly half a year now, the destruction left behind was evident everywhere.  

It wasn't long before we were overwhelmed with possible locations and we finally settled in an abandoned marina where sail boats had been ripped and thrown above water by the storm, along with piles of debris and rusted machinery.  The perfect setting I was looking for had been found!

As my MUA Lauryn completed hair and makeup on Jessa, I quickly setup lights for our shoot.  Overwhelmed with backdrop possibilities, we tried a few locations and in each we were blessed the perfect sky, sun and wind.  In all, the shoot turned out to be one my most memorable and successful shoots!

So the moral of the story is: when faced with adversity, look within and search deep in your chest of tricks, for the solution is there for you to find and to make of it as you intend to.  

Cheers!