Modeling Shoot

Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the start of this new year. 2019 so far has brought me a lot of cool and exciting photography opportunities, including this photoshoot I am talking about today! One of my good friends mentioned she had a friend that needs a few photos of her for her modeling portfolio. So, we decided to get together and get a few cool shots outside! We all met up in Chinatown in Chicago, and walked on over to Ping Tom Memorial park. It was a brisk January day, and even though it was about a 10 minute walk from where we parked, we were ferezing our butts off. It’s a beautiful park, even in January, so I can only imagine how incredible it looks in the spring and fall!

Ping Tom park is known for its beautiful pagoda style pavilion located on the west side of the park. We were about to move on to a different location, but as we passed it I noticed that the natural light was hitting it perfectly, and I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to capture the beautiful orange and red colors that were playing over the structure. The colors complemented Gina’s hair perfectly!

This shoot was a little challenging because of the patchy light from the clouds in the sky. When this happens, harsh shadows usually appear on the model’s face, and the photo tends to be overexposed as well. Thankfully my good friend Genevieve was there to be my assistant for the day! She was in charge of holding up a diffuser to filter the harsh light and make it softer on the model’s face.

The last spot we visited in the park was a wall with a unique mural on it. The wall had beautiful, vibrant blue Chinese cultural artwork on it with striking gold accents. When Gina mentioned this wall, I knew we had to go check it out. Once again, the colors complimented her gorgeous red hair. The mural was located under a bridge - the light filtered through the bridge, and created a soft, natural diffused light on Gina. We were having such a good time shooting here that I didn’t realize how cold it was until my fingers were having trouble clicking the shutter! We figured that was a pretty good time to stop, warm up and find some food nearby.

Though I had my doubts about shooting outdoors in the middle of January, we got some really great shots on this chilly, overcast day. If you can endure a little cold weather to get the perfect picture, I recommend going out and photographing on these gloomy days.

Our next stop was a street called south China Place in the middle of Chinatown. Anyone who has been to this area knows that it is full of a ton of Asian restaurants. You can find anything from Vietnamese hot pots to Japanese sandwiches! We decided on a place called Hing Kee, a Chinese restaurant which offers noodles and dumplings. As soon as we came in out of the cold and sat down, we were served delicious hot tea, which helped us warm up. The first thing we ordered was a round of Hong Kong style dough, which you dip into a condensed milk. It was absolutely delicious! After that, we had a few dumplings, finished up our tea, and decided to venture back into the cold to get back home. The whole day was an adventure, and I think the shots turned out pretty great too! It’s days like these that really make my work not feel like work at all.

Model: Gina Rose @thatsjustginarose