Location dance photo shoot on Talacre Beach
Today we’re going to look at a dance shoot on Talacre beach and explain some of the challenges.
I had been chatting to Nicolette Whitley about shooting dance on the beach, as a collaboration and portfolio builder. At the time both our schedules were pretty hectic so it took a little while before we could meet up to shoot. The UK weather is quite unpredictable and juggling everything was tricky so when we did finally get some time it was rather last minuet.
Nicolette and I both live in the same region and we’re very familiar with Talacre beach, on the coast of North Wales. I’ve been to this beach on many occasion, sometimes to shoot and sometimes for family picnics. Therefore location scouting wasn’t necessary and I had a very good idea of where we would shoot.
I took a panorama shot with my iPhone on a previous visit.
iPhone panorama shot of Talacre Beach, North Wales
I arrived to pick up Nicolette at around 19:00, straight from another photo shoot in Manchester with Jen Brook. We had a couple of hours before the sun went down, a 20 minute drive to the beach, grab as much gear as I could carry, not knowing for sure where the shoot would take us. A short hike over the sand dunes brought us to a spot I thought looked good.
The sky was just starting to change to a beautiful red and orange, the off shore wind farm could be seen in the distance, silhouetted like fans on the ocean. Water that had been left behind from the outgoing tide, reflected the changing colour of the sky. I had an amazing dancer to perform, how could this be anything but perfect?
Nicolette Whitley stands by to perform for the beach shoot, guarded by my trusty Tundra
Lights,camera,action
I hadn’t bargained on how strong the wind was going to be on this evening. I initially set up a single Speedlite on a tripod with a 90cm Lastolite Ezybox, which there’s now a new version. We weighed down the light stand but there was no way that it was going to stay put with a soft box attached, a decent gust would have had me chasing the whole rig along the beach.
Far from being deterred, I decided to go with just the single Speedlite, adding a dome defuser to spread the light a little more and a half cut of CTO jell (Colour temperature orange) to warm up the light to blend better with the setting sun. The light stand was still bending in the wind but at least it would stay in position.
We quickly got to work, Nicolette being her usual amazing self, full of energy and smiles, repeatedly performed numerous dance moves until we had a handful of shots we were quite happy with. The sun quickly disappeared below the horizon and we kept shooting, loosing track of time.
Nicolette Whitley dance location photo shoot
The car park
Our beach shoot adventure ended in an unusual way. My car barricaded on the beach car park, by a diligent employee who failed to realise cars usually have owners and perhaps this owner was still around. After a good bit of asking around and a spot of life experience’s jiggery pokery, I got us out, with no damage to the barrier I might add.
We came away with some nice images, not perfect in my eyes but we were happy with what we’d come up with. The most important thing is to work your situation and come out with some good, solid, usable images, no matter how challenging.
Nicollette Whitley performs on location for a beach, dance shoot.
Next time
It won’t be the last time we try our hands at a beach shoot. Next time I’ll have someone to assist with the light & modifier, controlling the light spill on the ground or shoot up from a very low angle where you can’t see the ground. I look forward to sharing that story with you in the near future. If you’re a performer and would like to build your portfolio I’d love to hear from you, a bespoke package is just a phone call away.
Nicolette will be performing as Alleviate with Renako McDonald in the 2014 UK Flashmob Tour, It’s going to be an amazing show, maybe I’ll see you there.
I’ll leave you with one of the first images of the evening, I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit and I’ll see you back here again soon.
Nicolette Whitley, location dance shoot, Talacre Beach