Brina…And a Snowy Shoot!

We finally got SNOW…& a decent amount! Living 40 minutes from the Outer Banks, it’s a rarity around here. We get maybe a dusting or two a year & that’s it! I can’t even remember the last time we’ve had some *real* snow as they are that few, far and in between from one to the next! So imagine my excitement & the possibilities that started running through my head for photoshoots! I didn’t want to get too excited though as the weathermen around here suck royally at predicating our weather. If they say it’s gonna snow it’s usually all rain & the snow shifted like 50 miles north of us at last minute or some other crazy excuse!

As I was on my way home yesterday I started thinking how cool it would be to get someone game enough to go out in the crazy weather & do a “trash the dress” session or just some portraits in general. Not even 2 hours later my friend & fellow photog Sabrina texted me basically asking me the same thing…”wanna do a shoot in the snow?” We always think the same when there is crazy weather. I like to shoot & she likes to model in it! We attempted to do a “trash” session during a Tropical Storm last year. I drove to her house in horrible weather & she got all ready & lo & behold the rain stopped, the wind stopped and the freakin’ sun came out! What the what?!? We waited forever for it to start raining again…it didn’t! Tropical Storm, Hurricane, Snow…yes we are that crazy! And yes, we totally respect Mother Nature & do take Tropical Storms & Hurricanes seriously as we grew up here & that’s a norm for us.

We started making the plans late last night as it would all depend on the weather & *if* we got any snow. We were up & texting at 6:45am this morning trying to make a final decision. She was supposed to come over to Camden for the shoot but traded her 4WD vehicle in for a car last year, which wasn’t helping us out in this situation. I have a 4WD Jeep Commander but since it snows so very little in these parts all the crazies come out & think they know how to drive in the mess & it creates utter chaosis! I didn’t want to go out on the road either! It was really coming down early this morning & we were going to start shooting before 9am as they had predicted it to get worse over the morning & into the afternoon. We decided to ax it at last minute as it just might have been too risky & made plans for Sunday after the storm moved out.

Fast forward…11am…my dad calls asking was I doing my shoot. I explained to him no because we didn’t know what road conditions were like & at that point it was doing a rain/ice mix. I had another shoot scheduled as well as I had posted on Facebook that I would be doing shoots in the snow if anyone was interested. I had already postponed that one too because of the ice rain & because they are little ones. My dad said he was on his way to pick me up if we still wanted to do the shoot. I called Sabrina & she was like “let’s do it!” We headed to town to pick up Sabrina. The roads weren’t bad at all…just a lot of slush…but an accident waiting to happen if the temperature kept dropping to turn it into black ice. She wanted some pics in her wedding dress & I suggested some in just a cute colorful dress since this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to shoot something like this…as who knows when we’ll get snow again.

The “Behind the Scenes” story: We headed out to a spot I had found a few weeks back & had shot some maternity pics at (location find courtesy of local EC photographer, Melissa Dawn Photography). We also decided to do another location for the other outfit…a really old house we both have seen for years & loved! As we pulled up to the first location it was pouring rain! I wrapped my camera in a trash bag, got out my Coach umbrella and told her “let’s go!” My mom & dad sat in the warm toasty truck & watched us! I knew it wouldn’t be long before my dad got out to help me. It’s not easy trying to shoot through a trash bag, hold an umbrella at the same time and stand in snow up to your calves! So he came out & played “assistant” & held the umbrella over me.

I do believe Sabrina had it worse than I did…she was the one modeling in a dress designed to be worn in a warm climate (she got married in the Bahamas), a thin cardigan & some boots & was being blasted with a cold rain…all on top of it already being 33 degrees outside & snow on the ground! This was the coldest shoot I had ever done! We shot for a bit & then jumped back in the truck. I let her get warm for a minute & then saw another spot on site I wanted to shoot. My dad didn’t assist on this one since it wasn’t going to take but a minute..instead he thought it was funny to sit in the truck & take pictures of me soaking wet with my pants coming down from being bogged down with snow! He asked my mom if she would put it in my baby book next to the one of me naked in the bathtub! Thanks Dad! Gotta love my parents sense of humor! Off to location number two we went! That location lasted all of about 5 minutes as the wind was blowing so hard & the rain really coming down. At this point Sabrina was a human popsicle & her second outfit was made out of super thin material!

So back home & thawed out this is what was accomplished today! I LOVE these photos! They were so worth going out in nasty weather & being cold! I’m praying for a little bit more snow tonight so I can do some more shoots tomorrow!



This next image is one of my faves! Reminds me of a VOGUE ad if I say so myself!





Location and outfit number 2!

Thanks Brina! It was a blast as always! Hope you thawed out fast! I’ll be thinking of you when I’m in sunny FL soon!

xoxo
Amy