There's a rather ancient motel on the outskirts of my hometown called the "Southern Motel." The motel's sign has seen better days--but that's exactly what drew me to it. I didn't drive by it often, but every time I did I would think to myself, "That would make a good backdrop." I even went so far as to drive to the location one day specifically to take a picture of the sign and add it to my "Possible Locations" folder.

Fast forward to today--Caitlin and I set up shop right in front of the sign. I used a Paul C. Buff PLM boomed above, camera left to block out the sun and provide the mainlight via a White Lightning Ultra 1800 monolight. I set up another mono with a Mola Demi to use as the rim light (camera right, behind subject). Last, but not least, I used a Canon 580EX positioned below the subject to fill in the shadows left by the high mainlight. I used a Singh-Ray Vari-N-Duo to polarize and underexpose the sky while maintaining a relatively wide shooting aperture (wide for sunny 10am that is).


Caitlin at the Motel 1 by budrowilson, on Flickr


Caitlin at the Motel 2 by budrowilson, on Flickr

There are a couple more on my flickr photostream.