Elena - Scottsdale Ford Model at the Tonto National Forest

One of my goals for our creative weekend play, was to incorporate gels. The sun was almost set and it was the perfect opportunity to pop a gel in the horse trailer to add an interesting background.

Laura Dillon Rogers Photography visited me from Charlottesville, Virginia, for a creative play weekend. Laura had the brilliant idea to reach out to the Scottsdale FORD/Robert Black Modeling Agency and see if any younger models needed test images for their portfolio.

The modeling agency connected us with Elena, who was available late in the afternoon and evening on a Saturday. We got lucky to work with Elena, an Arizona State University student and a seasoned model.

Elena has been a Ford Model since she was a young girl, and her beautiful mother is also a Ford Model. Elena’s mother attended the photoshoot with her; we were happy to have her expertise.

I used my Lensbaby 85mm to blur the background.

I normally like clean, flattery light but here I decided to play with the shadows on her gorgeous face.

Laura brought this neon yellow jacket to make it pop! We thought it would be cool to have Elena among the skulls and the saguaro cactus skeleton.

We included one of the Forest Service horses, Smoke into the photoshoot.

These are my favorites. I’m proud of using the Magenta gel to pop some unexpected color into the scene. See the image below without the gel being used.

The first shot was without the gel. We liked the monochromatic white on white. What else could we do to take it up a level?