Sunrise and Salty Air

Waking up before 5am isn't for everyone. Normally, it's not for me. However, this sunrise was completely worth it! I had been wanting to do a sunrise shoot on the beach for some time, and I was so happy my sister Margaret was up for modeling. We went to Bean Point an the tip of Anna Maria Island and witnessed a beautiful sunrise.

For the first few shots Margaret sat on some rocks. She can really pull off a "Romeo, where art thou" look, right?

Next we ditched the headband and she did some poses laying on the sand near the water. I absolutely love how this dress looks in the location, the lace almost reminds me of seaweed.

We moved closer to where the waves were washing up.

Then it was time to get in the water. The water has such beautiful colors in it! My favorite shots were the ones in the water.

A lot of the poses were more serious so we had to be sure and make a smiling photo!

During this shoot, I had to adapt a bit. Originally, I was planning on using off camera flash, but the communication between my camera and speed lights were acting up, so I ended up working with all natural light. The clouds became pretty inconsistent. It would go from a nice diffused cloud covering to full on sun shine, but by the time a reflector was on her to bounce some light on her, it would go away. For me it was a lot of adjusting the exposure and patience from Margaret.

My friend Larry was an awesome help (thank you Larry!) by holding a reflector for some of the shots. One of my favorite shots actually came when she was laughing at something he said in between poses, I love capturing that moment!

She's got the supermodel look going here!

Below is another personal favorite from this shoot. I like the quiet reflectiveness.

This shoot was a lot of fun! It challenged me to think fast and adapt to only using the sun light, which is something that I can't control, but only manipulate a little bit, depending on the intensity of the light and the shifting clouds.

A huge thank you to Margaret for modeling and Larry for assisting with the shoot!