2 days with Shasta Wonder in Sweden (Patreon)

For some years before Facebook started running their algorithms on things, you could post images in closed or secret groups, and get away with it. I was a member of such a group, a thriving community called Puritanical Photographers Basement. 

And this is where I first saw Shasta Wonder.

I was following her for a few years and at some point, she made a small tour to Scandinavia and I arranged to shoot with her over two days. 

My favorite "modus operandi", if this is feasible for the model, is to meet in the afternoon, drive to a location and shoot for a few hours, then stay the night at an Airbnb and shoot at sunrise again. That gives me the best possible light and the most deserted locations in the least amount of time.

And for traveling models, it means they can save accommodation so it's a win-win (however much I hate that term).

Anyway Shasta an I drove up to a place called Hovs Haller, some rocks have a Vikingy majestic feel to it and I assume that has something to do with the name. I never investigated it further though.

I think we shot for a total of 6 hours and we created a lot of award-winning images (several PSA and FIAP gold medals etc.).

There is. short BTS movie of Shasta getting into position for the big cairn shot here

Everything is shot just in daylight with no reflectors. 

If you look carefully at the BTS you can get a pretty good idea of how I use a location. Compare image 9 + 18, both are shot in the same spot. And picture 8+20 again is the same spot, and so is 10+17th.

Shooting on location is all about getting the grandeur in, or focusing on specific angles that will isolate the model.

Shooting on rocky beaches like this one requires some stamina. For the image of Shasta standing no the tall red structure with the rising sun over the sea, there is both a proper image and an iPhone version. And the 3 images after the iPhone version is to give you an idea of what it takes to get the model up there.

The second image with the large cairn is shot with a Lomo Patzval 85mm which causes the swirly bokeh and gives the image a dreamy look. the 2,3,4th image is shot with a Canon 50mmf. 0.95.

All these btw are shot on a Sony NEX-7 camera. 24mp and I bought it for €600/$700 or so.