Walk With Me - A stroll through the woods with Jordanna - Portrait Photography

This is the second post of my series called 'Walk With Me' where I go out into the world for a walk with my camera and I take photos, either of the person I'm with or even the location. This second post is a walk around Ogden Water with my good friend, Jordanna. It was wet & windy, but that didn't stop us!

I've known Jordanna for a long time, we both used to work at the same place. She openly admitted that she has never really done any kind of modelling before, but was more than happy to give it a go.

We decided to walk around Ogden Water, a nearby nature reserve. The main focal point is the reservoir, of which is surrounded by woodlands filled with footpaths up through the trees and up onto the moors. It's a great place to explore.

We did a couple of test shots just to make sure everything was working then we set off wondering. No real plan other than to see what jumped out at us.

As we followed the path down, I spotted an opportunity.

There was one spot along the path where the light from the sun just managed to sneak its way through the trees to a small patch of ground. I asked Jordanna to stand in front of that beam so that she would be slightly silhouetted. I put my 85mm f1.8 lens onto my Canon 6D and just as I focused a slight breeze came through the trees and whisper a few strands of her hair up in front of her face. I perfectly timed the photos as I managed to catch some of the wisps as they were illuminated by the sun and blown by the breeze. Shot 1, in the bag!

Feeling Autumnal

As we continued around the water, the weather changed and started to brighten up a little more but with it came more rain (it was a very mixed day). As we took shelter under some trees I spotted a tree that was mid-change from its green summer leaves into its more autumnal colours. By now, Jordanna had wrapped up in her coat and hat, so I asked her to simply stand in-amongst the branches.

We decided to go for a few different looks. I can't decide which I like the most. What do you think?

Shots 2-4, in the bag!

Time to hug a tree!

We couldn't come into the woods and not get a photo of a tree-hug! Thankfully, Jordanna saw the funny side too and happily went along for the ride. We found the right tree (if there is such a thing for a tree-hug) and gave it a try.

In hindsight, I think I would have liked to try this shot from a few more angles. Maybe gotten up above and shot down onto the model. But hey... that's the whole idea with these 'walk with me' shoots, it's to learn and play around and see what works and what needs improvement.

Enough tree-hugging!

Contemplation time

At the end of the walk around the reservoir is a long stone dam, of which you walk along the top of. It's a great spot for landscape shots, wildlife shots, and as it turns out it's not too bad for portrait photography either.

In closing

I had a great time walking around with Jordanna. To say she has never modelled before she took to it really well! She was very easy going and was willing to give it a try! I think, now that awkward 'first-shoot' is out of the way we will have a lot more fun on the next one and I'm genuinely looking forward to it!