If you aren’t familiar with photography, you may not know what an “inspired shoot” is or why photographers do them. An inspired shoot is an idea for a shoot usually stimulated by a concept, person, object, location etc. Photographers (as well as other industry people like make-up and designers alike) consider themselves artists and love making visions a reality. Now in a perfect world, we’d all be paid to create these stunning collaborations and be featured in an editorial magazine such as one of my favorite’s involving a giraffe and a spiral staircase. More often, however, the shoot is for business promotion (wedding ideas), but are more likely for ourselves spending our own money, time and passion to do something we love and want to share. Art for the sake of Art.
About 4-5 times a year my creative team and I do an inspired shoot and we take turns on each others ideas. This shoot happened to be my inspiration. Another photographer friend of mine actually did some engagements at the Ice Castles at Silverthorne and as soon as I saw the location I knew I had to do a shoot there before they were gone. Immediately I got the idea for an “Ice Queen” look similar to the “White Witch”, however, I wanted our subject softer, more childlike, who has only known a cold, pallid domain sheltered from a warm and colorful world.
Behind the scenes this shoot was pretty intensive to complete. First there was the location, which was unpredictable and susceptible to harsh, frigid weather conditions. In addition, we had a VERY limited shooting timeframe (1 hour). We had to find a local model (Amber Parnow) and place to complete the transformation. Another snag was we did not at this time have any garments for our model. Normally we would but because this was a on-location shoot, we were on our own. Cheri from Southern Charm and I found a THRIFT STORE dress and with some materials from JoAnn’s she was able to convert it to stunning gown for our model (and thankfully it fit!). Next, our team woke up at 5:30am to travel 2 hours in slick icy conditions to Breckenridge the day of the shoot. We frantically completed our model’s hair ourselves (Cheri and I) mixing her real hair with some fake frizzy hair that I got while in Las Vegas while allowing Tira from Make-up by Tira Rae to complete her make-up.
Once at the location, there was the logistics of lighting, electrical availability, gear staging and setup, shooting locations etc. Fortunately these were quickly found or completed, however, the lighting was less than ideal as I was hoping for a overcast or snowy day to add to the feeling for this shoot but it was bright “high noon” type sun which was enhanced by the all white reflective surroundings 🙂
However, by no means was it warm. The high that day in Silverthorne was 32° and Amber our model had to take breaks to warm up in addition to working in such conditions. The ground at the ice castles was more of a chopped, jagged ice and then there were a multitude of icicles that required us to be constantly vigilant. Not to mention inside the castle it became a frigid wind tunnel. Amber was a complete professional, walking in 4″ heels on a floor of crushed ice (not at all easy), posing against and on the ice in very cold conditions, and even at one point, taking off her shoes to run barefoot on jagged freezing ice for our main shot. It’s not always glamorous for a model. 🙂
Although there were bumps here and there, I am very pleased with how our shoot turned out. Although I will probably not do another inspired shoot there, I have recently learned that the ice castles will be returning next snow season, so for my brides, families and other clients, if you would like portraits or a session at the ice castles, please let me know. The experience of the day was once in a lifetime and the images I hope inspire and awe you all as much as they do me.
To view more of the photos from this shoot, view the facebook album here And Don’t forget to “Like” my fan page!
Thank you’s are due to:
Gown, Flowers, Headpiece, Accessories: Southern Charm Weddings and Events (Cheri Taunton)
Make-Up: Make-up by Tira Rae (Tira Perez)
Location: Ice Castles of Silverthorne
Model: Amber Parnow
Photography: Affordable Freelance Photography (Katharine Bicket)
