Rayneisha's Pool Party

Rayneisha and I have been planning this shoot since March.  We were discussing the details for the previous shoot we did, when Rayneisha showed me a picture of this brightly colored swimsuit.   It immediately screamed David Lachapelle.   So we started planning a second shoot that was to include multiple people, some crazy things going on and lots of bright colours.



I discussed the concept with Christopher Vee and he was on the same wave length and a big fan of Lachapelle.   Christopher managed to acquire this pool location from a friend.  The original concept was to have Rayneisha as the central model, a waiter, pool boy, an elderly lady "cougar" checking out the pool boy, a dog walker chasing a Rottweiler around the pool with leash dragging.   Unfortunately on the day the dogs were not available and the "Cougar" was only able to stay for the first 20 minutes of the shoot.   So we had to improvise and didn't get quite the chaos that was originally intended.

In order to get the brightly colour aesthetic, I needed to shoot this on a clear day with the sun high in the sky.   However, as it was really bright I needed to use 2 or 3 Einsteins to light each model, and sometimes had to light them from the other side of the pool.  As a consequence, I had to shoot each model separately and then merge them into one image afterward in post.

The day of the shoot was the hottest I can remember, and as the garden was sheltered from all sides it was like a sauna in there.  Unfortunately for me, Jonathan was unavailable and I'd left it too late to get an assistant so I had to set up all the lights for each model so 9 setups in all.  The shoot lasted about 3 hours.  The next time I do a shoot in that sort of heat I need to keep myself better hydrated as I was exhausted and light headed by the end and had to visit the pharmacy to get some hydration tablets.

Model: Rayneisha
Waiter: Shannon
Security: Juan
Pool Boy: Shaun
Cougar:  Barbara
MUA: Christopher Vee

Equipment
Camera:  Canon 5D mk iii
Lens: 24-105 @ 24mm F16, 1/200
Lights:  3 Einsteins with Beauty Dish and 64" parabolic reflector.

Click image to Enlarge 

Tags:  firetog; blog; Mike Jones; Bermuda; photography; photographer; photo; shoot; model; editorial; fashion; show; beauty; glamour; swimwear; swimsuit; bikini;