I have come up with some grandiose ideas for photoshoots, but so far this one has taken the cake. Now to be fair..some of the ideas I have come up with in the past never panned out for one reason or another. Maybe they were just too costly (usually the main reason), the model(s) I had in mind didn’t pan out, I just flat out lost interest or you name it. Could be any host of reasons. The idea of this shoot almost never came to be for a variety of reasons but something told me to stick with it.
Ever since I had seen the Boyz II Men video “Water Runs Dry” (as well a host of other R&B slow jam videos) I have always been enamored with the idea of doing a photoshoot in the desert. The only problem was I don’t live close to one. And I still haven’t gotten anyone to commission me to shoot in one so my expenses could be paid for the travel to do it. But then I found out that there was something similar not far from me in Monahans State National Park. And by ‘not far’, I mean it’s a six hour drive one way. Yep..you drive six hours from central Texas and STILL haven’t left Texas.
I knew with a drive like that, I had to find some reliable folks that would be down to make the trip. Not to mention they would have to be willing to pretty much give up an entire day since 12+ hours of our time would be spent driving. More than a few people were interested, but as I expected, they couldn’t dedicate that type of time on a Saturday. It was all good though because I actually preferred a smaller contingent. I was able to get it dwindled down to two of my favorite muses and my oldest son.
Leading up to the day, I was already nervous about how I was going to pull off these shots. I have never had the best luck shooting in harsh light conditions. I could never seem to get my settings right. Either the exposure on the model was too dark or the sky was blown out or there was always something off. It probably would have been a good idea to practice beforehand, but of course that would have made too much sense.
The plan was to get out there around 10:30am-ish. I figured it wouldn’t be THAT hot and still be bearable. Well we got there at a little past 11:30. By the time we walked to the area that I estimated to be the most optimal, it was pretty much high noon. But the good thing was there was a slight overcast. It was almost 100 degrees; however a little breeze was sifting through with the cloud cover so it actually felt pretty comfortable. That lasted for exactly 20 minutes. Then it was pure direct sun on nearly white sand the entire time we were there.
The other thing that I thought might have been an issue was protecting my gear. I’ve heard other photogs say they used bands around their lenses to make sure blowing sand didn’t get in. I wanted to be more careful than that. I purchased some waterproof covering instead. My entire camera and lens were encased in it the entire time. I think it may have also helped to keep it somewhat cooler once the temps kept climbing.
Even though I tried to plan as careful as possible to allow for the heat, it still felt like we underestimated it. I brought 2 12-packs of Gatorade as well as 2 12-packs of water. Before everything was said and done, we had went through nearly all of them. We also made sure to take breaks in what little bit of shade the park did provide. It may not seem like much, but it made a world of difference. Every little bit counted too because there was no cell phone service there so it’s not like we could have called anyone if something bad did happen.
So yeah…it did suck that most of our time that day was spent on driving. It wasn’t the most ideal climate conditions given that it was high noon and temps topped out at around 110 degrees. But I have to honestly say this turned out to be one of my favorite shoots to date. The images came out even better than I imagined. It was a lot of work and even stress, but I definitely feel like the ends justified the means.