Portrait of a Soldier

So during my stay in Washington with my cousin a week ago I took some portraits of him and his family. Heres the catch, I flew there and took minimal gear, excluding light stands. There was a small wooded area (like a mini forest) behind the house with a nice little lake in the middle, awesome spot. So what to do? Build a light stand with all of the tree branches laying around, like a teepee. I felt like Macgyver, and even used some rope I found on the ground. I made it one evening while checking out the location, and returned 2 more times for the shoots and it was where I left it. First time I stuck my cousin in the middle of the trees and setup my stick light stand about 6 feet from him to camera left with a full CTO gel over it.


The next night right before the sunset we went back to the same spot, this time with the rest of the family, including the dog. There was a rad looking tree with limbs covered in green moss that hung over the small lake, I set them up under that with my same stick light stand setup about 10-12 feet from them at camera left with a DIY grid and a full CTO gel.


After that we walked over to a small dock at just the right time to catch the deep blue sky in the background. The lighting for this one was just about the same as before.

I cannot thank my cousin enough for his hospitality while I was there. Not only did he put up with me for a week, I got to drive his awesome car around. Same for his wife and her great cooking that kept my belly full, which is a must. So these photos were my gift to them for the stay, Enjoy!

Stay tunes for more Seattle photos from the trip