Sunday tease: beach shoot

Nikolai

Strange as it may seem, despite of being a Socal resident for almost 10 years and living only 15 miles inland from the world famous beaches of Malibu, I didn't have any "standard issue" beach shots in my portfolio. Just like with the train tracks, this issue started to bug me, so a few weeks ago I called my buddy Drew (who shoots beach almost exclusively) and we arranged for a combo shoot, starting on the beach and finishing in my studio.
Weeks have passed, we ran through almost a dozen models (notoriously not the most reliable people in the world;-) and finally today was the day: nice SoCal November Sunday, scenic yet not overcrowded Malibu beach and three - very different - models: Julz (Filipino), Lauren (British) and Anna (Russian).

1. We arrived at the location around 9:30. Anna was running late, so we started without her:



2. Putting on bikini is hard, but Drew is a true gentleman and is always ready to help:



3. Drew was using AB1600, I only brought my standard location kit of two Sunpacks



4. As it turned out, models need to be "well oiled" to look good on the beach. While we wholeheartedly offered our help in this matter, too:-), ladies decided simply to do each other:



5. Drew was ready first, so he and Lauren proceeded to the surf line:



6. Finally, I tuned up my little sunpacks and me and Julz started shooting, too:



7. After 15-20 minutes of shooting we switched and I got to shoot Lauren:



8. Finally Anna arrived, too, and we got her in the mix:



All in all it was a fun day. As a nice bonus, Pierce Brosnan walked right by us with his kids and his dog. We greeted him, he smiled and said a few words back. We didn't want to spoil his family time and act like some darn paparazzi, so no pics of Pierce, sorry :dunno

We shot on the beach till 1pm, awarded our models with a nice lunch (Adobe Cantina - for my homies:-) and then Julz left (she was pressed for time) and we went to my place where we shot a few rather sizzling hawt lingerie/GoG frames.

Stay tuned for finals from this shoot, albeit it may take time - my shooting schedule got somewhat crazy, I'm already 4 shoots behind in postprocessing, and it's only gonna get worse, since I'm shooting this week pretty much non-stop. Oh well, at least it keeps me busy :-) :wink

Art Scott

Nice set of shots......Better watch those GoG shoots people might start calling you Mr. Hef

Nikolai

Art Scott wrote:

Nice set of shots......Better watch those GoG shoots people might start calling you Mr. Hef

Thanks!
I'm not that cool yet. That pal of mine Drew actually shot at PB Mansion , I didn't get that gig :cry

Zanotti

Great shots Nik, thanks for showing the setups!

The level of sharing on DGrin always amazes me - its the greatest learning source in people's photography.




Z

Nikolai

Zanotti wrote:

Great shots Nik, thanks for showing the setups!

You're welcome, and thanks for stopping by!

Zanotti wrote:

The level of sharing on DGrin always amazes me - its the greatest learning source in people's photography.
Z

+1 on that!

Mitchell

#7 looks excellent. One of the best I've seen from you.

Can't wait to see more from this shoot.

Nikolai

Mitchell wrote:

#7 looks excellent. One of the best I've seen from you.

Can't wait to see more from this shoot.

Thanks Mitch!
I must confess: now that I had my hands on this, I may reconsider my previous abstinence from swimware/beach shooting, it leaves very satisfactory feeling and adds nice pics to port.

JESTER

Nikolai, these are nice. I know what you mean by getting turned down by the girls. I do a lot of photography for Hooters Restaurants at their Bikini Contests. I volunteer to help them with the oil or the spray adhesive but always get turned down!

If you need a picture of Pierce I can get you a photo of his "look a-like". I have coffee almost daily with his former Stuntman.

By the way, it looks like you have better beach scenery on the west coast. I like the rocks and cliffs.

Nikolai

JESTER wrote:

Nikolai, these are nice. I know what you mean by getting turned down by the girls. I do a lot of photography for Hooters Restaurants at their Bikini Contests. I volunteer to help them with the oil or the spray adhesive but always get turned down!

, what a tough life we all have:-)

By the way, it looks like you have better beach scenery on the west coast. I like the rocks and cliffs.

We don't have too many of those, but occasionally it happens:-)

Thanks for stopping by!

glennp

Great set up pics! Look forward to seeing the final results.

dogwood

JESTER wrote:

By the way, it looks like you have better beach scenery on the west coast. I like the rocks and cliffs.

The Oregon coast has plenty of rocks and cliffs. The entire Oregon coastline is public property too.

The catch? I don't think I've EVER seen a bikini on the Oregon coast. If you want photos of girls in parkas and scarves, no problem. Swimwear-- even in August-- is not gonna happen.

Nice pics Nik. Looking forward to the rest.

Nikolai

glennp wrote:

Great set up pics! Look forward to seeing the final results.

Thanks!
Once set from this shoot is already in "Go Figure", the rest will follow soon :-)

Nikolai

dogwood wrote:

The Oregon coast has plenty of rocks and cliffs. The entire Oregon coastline is public property too.

The catch? I don't think I've EVER seen a bikini on the Oregon coast. If you want photos of girls in parkas and scarves, no problem. Swimwear-- even in August-- is not gonna happen.

Nice pics Nik. Looking forward to the rest.

Thanks, Pete!

We had some major deployment at work on Monday, pulled out an all nighter, less than 2 hours of sleep, back at at work at 7am to make sure no problems, resolve some freshly found issues, then rush home just in time to shoot a very sweet and goofy gogo dancer from Chicago, IL - and then I simply collapsed. But I hope I will be able to post some more soon :-)

greenpea

dogwood wrote:

The Oregon coast has plenty of rocks and cliffs. The entire Oregon coastline is public property too.

The catch? I don't think I've EVER seen a bikini on the Oregon coast. If you want photos of girls in parkas and scarves, no problem. Swimwear-- even in August-- is not gonna happen.

Nice pics Nik. Looking forward to the rest.

You would be surprised at the places Nik is able to get a girl to pose for the camera (regardless of the temperature).

On on a cold evening in early September I watched a model get waist deep into 50 degree water wearing only a bikini just so that she could be photographed by Nikolai.

Nikolai

greenpea wrote:

You would be surprised at the places Nik is able to get a girl to pose for the camera (regardless of the temperature).

On on a cold evening in early September I watched a model get waist deep into 50 degree water wearing only a bikini just so that she could be photographed by Nikolai.

I'm warming them up here for your arrival so you will be able to get them into cold waters of the winter Pacific yourself (provided you get a kitchen pass to shoot girls on the beach :-)

bob swanson

If #7 is a sample of your finished product than I think your portfolio will be in fine shape. Thanks for the sequence. Good shooting. bsvirginian

Nikolai

bob swanson wrote:

If #7 is a sample of your finished product than I think your portfolio will be in fine shape. Thanks for the sequence. Good shooting. bsvirginian

Thank you!
FWIW, #7 is a SOOC setup shot, the real thing should be better, if ever so slightly, or so I hope

zoomer

Cool stuff!
I love number 7, great pose and setting. Well lit.
The model looks great in this one.

Nikolai

zoomer wrote:

Cool stuff!
I love number 7, great pose and setting. Well lit.
The model looks great in this one.

Thanks!