This shoot has been in my mind ever since i bought this bike. As like many of you living in Vancouver i had my bike stolen. This summer i thought it was about time i replaced it and decided against spending thousands of dollars on another mountain bike which will never see dirt, i will by a single gear to cruise around town. By a stroke of luck and a little determination i found this clean simplistic white and brushed metal bike on craigslist and the vision started right there.

I scouted locations for a couple of weeks, trying to stay away from the beach as it has been done so much. When i came across this white series of buildings i checked the sun position and where it fell at different times of the day, how much the road was used and when vehicles are less lightly to be in front of it. This building was chosen because it doesn’t look like a typical Vancouver building being only one floor and small narrow slit windows. It gave me the feeling of being in Spain or Portugal with its white on white look and layered glass slats.

Once i had the location i found Winny Clarke, the perfect model for the shoot. Fun, bubbly and full of enthusiasm she made this shoot easy.  With the concept sorted it was just a case of putting them altogether. My original idea of lots of soft edges and sun flares taking over most photos was halted by a sudden end to the Vancouver summer and cloud cover. For a few days we thought of re-scheduling but with rain forecasted for the foreseeable future we decide to go ahead. I personally feel when you’re put in the situation where all your ideas in your head and the concept you wanted to achieve were thrown out the window,  you have to use your skill and vision to complete the new puzzle of the shoot in front of you. It pushes your skill and vision making you a better photographer and separates the pros from the amateurs.

Even with the cold Winny made no fuss and was a trooper. The final images turned out great  and achieved the look and feeling i wanted to get. Massive thanks to Winny and my assistant Kyle.

Check out all the shots on the milesclarkphoto facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miles-Clark-Photography/146933548724263

or  see the selected few that made it to the websites Portfolio here: http://www.milesclarkphoto.com/people/

Also keep checking back as in a few days the edit of the behind the scenes video will be up.

Location: Savary Island, BC

Models: Aleksandra, Zara Durrani

Makeup Artist: Cloe Johnston

A 2 day trip to the beautiful Savary Island 6hours north of Vancouver for what turned out to be well worth the drive and the three ferries. After leaving the car behind at Lund we  voyaged across the last stretch of water to Savary Island. Met by the a local real estate agent Rick Thaddeus, Aleks and myself were shown around the island to spot locations…a hard task as everywhere you looked were stunning beaches, mill pond calm waters and beautiful mountains.

Base camp was chosen, the tent was erected and dinner was put on the camp stove just in time for the rain to start. With the rain hammering down an early night was forecasted. A 5:30am alarm and the girls were into hair and makeup and the tent was dismantled. An unexpected morning call from Rick started what turned out to be a great day. We accompanied Rick back to his house where we met his lovely family and had quick coffee for the road. All packed up and a 2min drive down the sandy narrow streets to the location where we were met by beautiful sunshine and a stunning empty beach for as far as you could see. With all the equipment piled on our backs we descended the 50ft cliff path down to the beach. The genius idea to then re-erect the tent as a changing room and a little yoga to warm up and the shooting began. With a cut off time of 2:30pm we were on a mission!

The surroundings as they were, it seemed every direction you looked was like a photo in itself. Zara and Aleks knew exactly was needed and killed every shot jumping in and out of the tent into a record number of stunning outfits to complete on time. As the last shots were being snapped,  Rick climbed back down the cliff path to help us pack up and get back on the ferry. The shoot was a great success but it could not have gone so well without the awesome team work of Zara, Aleks who organized the whole trip down to the last detail, Cloe and a HUGE thank you to Rick Thaddeus who went out of his way to make our stay one of which we will all never forget.

Geek Section: The was no artificial light useed in this shoot it was all down to the sun and a reflector. I should state that the reflector was changed due to the different skin tones in the models (Zara had gold and Aleks had Gold and Silver grid pattern). Camera settings: 1/320s ISO 200 at f8. The canon 24-70mm f2.8L was used for the whole shoot. As for the direction of the sun we didn’t have much option but to have most of the shots back lit as the sea was used for the background of all the photos.

To see the photos from this shoot you can check them out at the commercial section of this sites portfolio….http://www.milesclarkphoto.com/commercial/

To find out more about Savary Island check out Ricks site: http://www.savary.ca