This was an idea I have been wanting to shoot for ages, at least a year. The location of this shoot, a humble doorless garage space played a central part in its execution due to its easy location, its current state and the fact the garage space did not have a door, so all the autumnal coloured leaves would blow in and most importantly stay dry. The only snag with this location was it out of bounds for at least a year and only became available the week after Halloween by pulling some strings.
I occasionally experiment with different light sources other than my speedlights and studio kit out of curiosity and on this occasion, an LED wand was the latest toy. The shoot took place the weekend just after Halloween so I wanted to shoot something quite dark, but still have some usable content for the makeup artist and actress. I decided on a Jilted Bride theme played by the beautiful and extremely talented London actress Rosie Ladkin, hair and make-up by Laura Naish.
I decided to only pack the essentials, my 2 LED panels and an affordable alternative to the IceLight, bought from B&Q for a tenner, some modifiers and 3 primes. A 50mm, 40mm and a 28mm. I figured this would make me work harder and with the flash safety net gone, I had to make it work as I don't like to fail. The LED panels were quite a harsh light but could be easily shaped with reflectors, making switching looks a lot simpler compared with using flash. The only limit to this way of working is how creative you could be with the make-shift modifiers. I look forward to applying this method of lighting to other work.