Over Labor Day weekend I took a 4-day trip to Hermosillo, Sonora to visit Jazmin Riley before she started her semester at college. Since this was a social visit and not specifically a photography trip, I didn’t want to pack the car full of lighting gear. This trip, I specifically took only my camera bag.
As is typical for us, Jazmin and I are completely incapable of not shooting. There is a broke-down building she’s been driving by every day that casts shadows she’s wanted to work with. This was the first setup we did at the location. We intended to do more, but the heat started to melt the model. We selected a corner that had shadows she liked and was surrounded by other brightly lit walls that provided plenty of bounced light. The location essentially lit itself.
Because of the heat outside, we decided to do the next setup completely inside the house. To get our bright white glow in the background, we used a window that had a white translucent material covering it, with the sun beating down just outside. To achieve the front lighting, we used the overhead lights on the ceiling fan, accompanied with a lamp positioned up close with the shade removed. The indoor lighting was a bit low, but that allowed for the light from the window to wrap around Jazmin to provide the glow I was looking for.



















