Styled Shoot Meetup Extravaganza!
You know that feeling when you’re planning something for a long time, it happens, and then it’s over? Just like that? Our most recent meetup was almost a week ago and I’m still kind of in processing and reflection mode. It exceeded every vision we had for how it would go, from the energy of the group, to the weather, how the looks came together, the location… it was just wonderful! But man, it went by way too fast.
Because we planned for an EARLY start Saturday morning, most of the girls got into town Friday evening. Obviously this meant we had to have a little welcome dinner to catch up! We were laughing so much (at a normal laughter volume, mind you) we actually had someone approach our table and ask us to quiet down a bit. His exact words were, “Ladies, I love to hear the laughter. But could you maybe not laugh…all at the same time?”. Yes, he was serious. And yes, the absurdity of the situation made us laugh even more. I guess that’s what we get for making a 4:30 pm reservation in Florida!
For weeks leading up to the Saturday morning shoot, Dee and I had been coordinating with our 2 stunning models, Makaya and Allison, putting looks together, location scouting, making an itinerary and general shot list, communicating with the group… a lot of planning went into making it as fun and worthwhile as we could. One of the only things out of our control that made us nervous was the weather. The first time we scheduled this meetup, we had to cancel due to hurricane Milton. This time, an actual polar vortex threatened to rain on our parade. But thankfully, the forecast kept improving all week and it turned out to be a pretty nice day!! Overcast - a photographer’s dream - low in the 50s, and moderate wind. The last hour of the shoot got pretty chilly as the temperature continued to drop throughout the day, but we powered through!! I have SO much respect for our models absolutely crushing it in BIKINIS and am thankful it wasn’t colder!
We split into two rotating groups for each look so everyone had individual time with both models and got shots of the models together. The looks were swimwear, surf, and skateboarding. Music was playing, there was dancing, lots more laughter, and so much support and camaraderie among these super talented photographers. It really is amazing to watch them have an idea and execute it, work as a team, collaborate and have fun together. That’s why we do this!!
Be sure to check out our Instagram “Meetup” highlight to see lots of behind the scenes from the weekend. We’re also re-sharing the amazing work of the participants as they post them and y’all…these photos are absolutely blowing us away. We’re talking SI Swimsuit, Roxy Campaign, Patagonia Surf level shooting, here, people. Absolutely amazing what these ladies created!!
Well, the weekend had to come to an end. We had a lovely celebratory dinner in downtown St. Pete at a cute little Italian place. We drank wine, ate cheese, talked about our goals and dreams - it doesn’t get much better than that! We can’t wait for the next one. Puerto Rico, anyone? ;)
If you’d like to be in the know for when we plan the next get together, be sure to join our email list on our home page!
