Editorial lifestyle photography in New Orleans

A silhouette of 7 businessmen crossing the street in a busy New Orleans interchange

About the Image

This lifestyle advertising photo of business men was taken in New Orleans close to sunset. When shooting lifestyle the casting process is important and we spend a lot of time with the casting process. On major projects we’ll set up a test shoot to see which model(s) work the best.

I had scouted for this location on and off for about 3 days. I wanted to shoot into the sun, meaning the street had to run very close to east – west, with a clear shot to the sun late in the day, meaning tall trees or buildings would interfere. Plus I wanted a wide road and with car traffic for the background element and a traffic light to stop traffic. This was the perfect location.

So the shoot day arrived and I started to shoot several ideas in another location but close to this one with all of the models all the time watching the time to get this shot, the last image of the shoot. We move to the location and we start to shoot. It was hampered by the fact that when the traffic light changed, I could not shoot.

3 minutes after I started to shoot, a police car rolls up with its light flashing close to the models. I’m thinking there is a problem of us shooting there. I had given 2 of the models two-way radios so I asked them to find what the deal was. It seems that there was a marathon race about to start and the police were going to block the road. My first thought was the road was going to be choked with runners, ruining my shot, (I’m thinking the Boston or the NYC marathons).

No, maybe 200 runners and as soon as they ran past, I had a clear shot to the west and in fact I moved my tripod into the street for a better angle as the police were still blocking the intersection.

This was very good luck!

To see a larger photo go here: stpvd.com/20/7 – and feel free to share!

For Photographers

The Gear:
Canon A2 film camera using Ektachrome 64 ISO with a
Canon 400mm f2.8 lens mounted onto an
O’Connor 50 fluid head with a set of wood sticks.
Film processed by hand in my darkroom.

The Light:
Blue sky sunset.

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